The legend Of Naruto Uzumaki
by Millennion
Summary: Gifted with all the talent a ninja of his pedigree should possess, Naruto Uzumaki begins the long trek towards becoming a legend.
1. Chapter 1

_Well here we are with yet another fic from the ever procrastinating Millennion__.__. This one will be Naruto as I think it should have been.. __And, for the most part, things will remain Canon although some characters will be far stronger than Canon simply because Kishimoto fucks up power levels__.__. As for the status of my other fics: (to those that actually care) Death on the Battlefield will have a new chapter whenever I get around to completing it. Hopefully soon. As for the other two, they will be rewritten with the same premise but with hopefully much better writing__.__. So without further ado let the story begin…_

Naruto Uzumaki eyed the obstacle in front of him with unflinching concentration. Angling his short frame perfectly he let loose with the kunai and watched it land with a meaty thunk near the center of the target. A small smile crossed his face and he gleefully wiped the sweat from his brow. Picking up one of several fallen kunai that littered the small training ground he was using he resumed his practice. The sight of a four year old training his kunai skills so diligently was unusual even in a village renowned for its ninja like the Village Hidden in the Leaves, but the Old Man had promised him that he could start the academy next week and the Blond had vowed to be ready. _It was getting late, though,_ he thought before grinning. _Time for some Ichiraku's._. Gathering up his training kunai he was about to make his way towards his favorite ramen stand when he heard a loud crash along with the unmistakable sound of metal grinding against metal. Innately curious he made his way silently towards the noise his jaw dropped in awe. In the next clearing two blurs crashed into each other before separating to reveal two ninja both wearing leaf headbands. Naruto watched in stunned excitement as the two palmed a pair of kunai and performed a series of expertly timed punches and kicks that their opponent just as deftly blocked or dodged. As the battle before him intensified Naruto found himself frozen in place as an invisible pressure bore down on him and yet still his eyes watched in fascination and fear as the two ninja wove handseals at speeds his untrained eyes could barely see. A great gout of flame burst from one of the ninjas mouths and was met with a wall of solid earth. The earth split the fireball in two sending one half careening harmlessly into the sky and the other half headed straight for the frozen child. The blond's scream of pain tore the two Chunin from their battle and they watched with growing horror as his screams died out as his charred body crumbled to the ground.

* * *

Drip… Drip… Drip… Naruto groaned and opened his eyes…_'Where am I '_ he thought glancing around. The first thing he noticed was the sheer darkness surrounded by what was undoubtedly a sewer. Further inspection revealed a series of tunnels and as he looked around he saw a light far into the distance down one of them. He made his way down the pathway noting with curiosity the strange sounds coming from the end of the tunnel. As he neared the end the sounds grew in volume until they were easily recognizable as the growls of a large animal of some kind. Swallowing the lump that appeared in his throat he made his way into the light and gasped in surprise at the sight before him. It was a large white gate with the word SEAL in giant letters over it.. Behind the gate was an enormous fox with nine gigantic tails waving casually behind it. A combination of fear and uncontrollable curiosity coursed through him and he made his way slowly forward before a booming voice stopped him

**"So My Jailer has arrived****.****." **Roared the Fox before grinning cruelly, eagerly showing off rows of razor sharp teeth** "Why are you here, Human?"**

Naruto gulped before mustering his courage and shaking his head. "I don't know. Last thing I remember was that fire coming towards me then pain and I found myself here…where are we?"

The Fox scratched his gigantic nose with one of its tails before answering in a bored voice **"We are in your feeble little mind human."**

Naruto looked surprised. "How did you get in my head?" He asked curiously.

The moment the words left his mouth the pressure he felt earlier watching the two ninja was back and intensified to a level that Naruto's young mind could not comprehend.. His muscles froze and he found it impossible to breathe as his young mind began the shut down under the pressure of the fox's rage.. Noting the affects his anger was having on his jailer the fox reluctantly eased up on his killing intent until the boy in front of him was able to gasp frantically for breath. He studied his jailer for a moment before heaving a large sigh and responding. **"I was sealed in here, brat, by the one you call the Fourth Hokage…Your Father."**

Naruto's brain threatened to overload at the new information he received.. The fourth was…"Wait,," he yelled in startled realization.. "You are the Kyuubi who attacked the village 4 years ago" he was about to back away in fear before the rest of the Fox's statement sunk in. "Wait… my father was the fourth?"

The Kyuubi sighed in exasperation "**Yes brat, he's your father and I did indeed attack this pathetic village."** He grinned again at the memory before noticing the sound of barely restrained sobs as the child began to cry... "Why?" he sobbed staring accusingly at the unrepentant fox. "Why did you kill him…what did we ever do to you?"

"**You'd never understand child."** "Please tell me!" begged the blonde before falling to his knees. "I've been alone my whole life….everyone ignores me no matter what I do,, so please, please, tell me why….It's not fair" he sobbed.

The fox stared at him for a moment before sighing.. **"No, I suppose it's not**"

Settling on his haunches he spoke again. "**I know all too well the unfairness of fate… can you understand child what it's like to be caged? To spend an eternity in darkness?**" the boy shook his head but listened intently. **"You humans are so selfish, constantly lusting for power. Throughout the centuries of my existence me and my brothers and sisters have watched you slaughter each other wholesale. As your wars escalated it wasn't long before your ancestors began to seek the power of my brethren. Of course, they failed horribly and we killed and ate all who dared to challenge us. All was well until that man appeared: Hashirama Senju, your first Hokage. He was born with an ability not seen since the death of the Great Sage, the ability to subdue the powers of the Bijuu and, like all humans, he lusted for power. He captured my brothers and sisters and traded them away to promote the so called peace between the newly created hidden villages."**

The fox gazed down at the eagerly listening child…**"tell me Naruto Uzumaki" "What right did he have to trade away power that wasn't his? To trade away the freedom of my siblings as if he was Kami himself?"**Before the stunned blond could answer the fox continued, "**Eventually I alone remained free. Until one day Uchiha Madara, with his cursed eyes and foul chakra, attacked and managed to subdue me. He led me towards what is now the Valley of the End to fight his rival, Hashirama. He was defeated and I was freed from his cursed genjutsu. However, before I could leave, that bitch, Mito Uzumaki, sealed me into her body." He growled angrily. "I spent years trapped in darkness. Chained to a rock until, finally, the seal began to weaken. I surged my chakra forward in an attempt to break my shackles and managed to escape. I breathed fresh air for the first time in decades, but before I could enjoy my freedom, I was bound once again. This time in a new container: your mother, Kushina,**" Here Naruto gasped but remained silent entranced by the tale." **I bided my time… swearing to one day be free and to have my vengeance, then four years ago I had my chance. Your mother was giving birth which weakened the seal. I tried to get out and suddenly I was free. But before I could enjoy it Madara appeared again and put me once again under his control. I raged and slaughtered the Konoha forces until suddenly I was free from his control. I suppose your father must have stopped him somehow. I made my way to the village destroying all who stood in my path and prepared a tailed beast ball that would wipe out this village and remove everyone who had a chance to take my freedom again**. **But I was stopped by your father and once again found myself sealed. All because your father wanted you to be able to steal my power!**"

With his story finished the foxed lay down, content to be lost in his thoughts before a soft voice broke his reverie. "I'm Sorry" mumbled the child before gathering his courage and gazing into the fox's surprised eyes. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, son of the Fourth Hokage and I hereby swear to find a way to set you free." Kurama stared at the child in surprise and sensing no falsehood or negative emotions from him he smiled. **"Then Naruto Uzumaki, I, Kurama, lord of kitsune accept your pledge and vow to aid you in whatever endeavor you find yourself in."**

* * *

Hiruzen Sarutobi paced frantically by the wounded child's bed. Such a stupid accident for his pseudo grandson to be involved in. The two irresponsible Chunin had been punished with a month of intense training with Gai. That should raise their battlefield awareness, but truthfully, accidents like this happened fairly often. The old Hokage never thought he'd be grateful for the Kyuubi's presence within Naruto, but as the boy's wounds healed far more rapidly than a normal human being's, he couldn't help but be grateful for the strange twist of fate. He was snapped out of his reverie by the slow movement of the bed sheets and with speed belying his age he was by his young friend's side. "How are you feeling Naruto?" he asked softly.

The boy glanced around sleepily before hugging one of his few friends in the village. "I'm just fine Jiji," he smiled before a loud rumble filled the room. "Could use some ramen though"

* * *

A week had passed since the accident at the training ground and his meeting Kurama. The two new partners had decided that keeping Naruto's knowledge of Kurama and his parents a secret would be best for now. After the initial excitement was over, Kurma informed him that there was little he could do to help him until his body got strong enough to handle his chakra but Naruto merely grinned and said it was fine as he did not want to depend on Kurama's power anyway. It was now the first day of the academy and he was eager to attend. Making his way past the mass of new students to his classroom, he took a seat near the front and he listened with boundless excitement as the female teacher introduced herself as Suzume-sensei. The first few months, she explained, would be spent going over basic taijutsu forms and physical fitness. They would also be learning the proper way to hold and use a kunai. Also, by the end of the year, they would be learning how to unlock and use their chakra.

A month into the class, however, it was clear that Naruto's genetics had shown through. His quick mind absorbed taijutsu forms like a sponge to water and his previous practice had his accuracy at the top of the class. It was also apparent after the first spar he had with one of his fellow students that he had already unlocked his chakra and was subconsciously using it in his attacks. He had quickly sidestepped his opponent's sloppy punch and sent him crashing into a wall with a sidekick. It became apparent a month later when Suzume-sensei caught him practicing the more advanced 2nd year academy taijutsu forms that there was little else she could teach him at this level and she firmly recommended he be placed in a more advanced class. The next day he started his second year classes under Keiko-sensei.

The second year's curriculum was far more difficult than before, in addition to having more advanced taijutsu and weapons training, they were also taught history and basic shinobi tactics and stealth. They were also introduced to chakra control and began working on the leaf floating exercise. It was during once such lesson that Naruto discovered that he had a large amount of chakra for his age and, thus, had difficulty controlling it. Luckily, while Kurama had no knowledge of how to do human jutsu he did have some knowledge on chakra control and was able to impart the basics of tree climbing and water walking, bringing Naruto to average control over his chakra which was impressive for his age. His healing factor allowed him to train harder and longer than his peers and he intensified his physical training running laps around the village and swimming with rocks tied to his ankles. The great benefit he found in being a second year student was that he was allowed access to the Academy Library. There were very few jutsu available to learn, merely a few D-ranked ones like the basic three and body flicker. However there was a wealth of scrolls on the basics of ninja arts such as sealing and medicine. There were even basic theories on genjutsu. Naruto devoured such knowledge and was soon able to make his own explosive tags and was able to identify the 8 main lethal parts on a human body. He advanced so quickly in fact that after three months he had learned the entire second year's curriculum and had increased his strength and speed so much that no one in the second year class could come close to him in taijutsu. Once again, he found himself advanced to a higher level. It was then that the whispers started: Tensai. Genius. The second coming of Itachi Uchiha. Hiruzen was so proud he took him to Ichiraku's to celebrate.

Naruto found his transition into his third year classes far more difficult. Hounded by bullies who were jealous of the fact that a child so young had made it into their class he discovered a hitch in his progress. While his chakra capacity and control had continued to grow steadily through hard training, and his quick mind absorbed the new lessons on geography and infiltration like a sponge, he was simply too small to defeat the older boys in direct combat during spars. Mastering the basic three did give him an edge on the weaker students and with tactics he was able to win, however, the top students continued to knock him around like a ping pong ball. To overcome this glaring weakness he began wearing small weights and worked long and hard on speed training. He also raided the library and absorbed everything he could on genjutsu. After a month of hard training he once again was running circles around even the most dedicated third year students. He mastered the tree walking and water walking exercises and after a combined 4 months of training found himself once again advancing into the 4th and final academy year.

The final year at the academy was spent with more intense spars and battlefield simulations as well as mastering the three basic jutsu and eliminating any holes in their skills. With the genin exam looming, Naruto began to work on kunai balancing, the next level in chakra control training, as well as finally mastering the body flicker technique. He increased his speed training and began working on increasing his hand seal speed as well as mastering a newly discovered ability to sense negative emotions which came in handy during stealth training. Finally, after three months and a combined year of training, the day of the genin exam had arrived. _I must have looked comical,_ he would think years later. Though he was a whole foot smaller than the shortest student there and wore a bright orange track suit with black stripes, when his name was called he moved with supreme confidence. In the accuracy test, he achieved perfect bullseyes and while he didn't get a perfect score he knew he scored high on the written exam. Next came the stealth test, which despite the fact that his orange jumpsuit was like a neon sign, he was skilled enough to avoid being seen and passed with flying colors. Next came the ninjutsu part of the exam in which he created 15 perfect clones. The final part of the exam was a match between him and the number 2 student and top Kunouchi, Hana Inuzuka.

Hana attacked with all the ferocity her clan was known for, knowing from experience that if she let him gain any momentum it was all over her. Naruto nimbly dodged her strikes mentally thanking god that he had worked so hard on improving his speed. She was bigger and certainly stronger than he was and while he could honestly say his forms were smoother and more skillful, in a straight up taijutsu match she would slaughter him. Dodging a roundhouse kick to the face he quickly wove through seals and body flickered behind her, and taking advantage of her surprise launched a series of fast punches into her stomach before landing a sidekick that sent her flying. She recovered her balance and landed daintily on her feet. Glaring at the boy before her who almost seemed to be laughing, she moved to attack again before the cool metal tip of a kunai dug gently into her neck. To her surprise the boy in front of her shimmered away._ 'Clone jutsu'_ she thought angrily. "The winner and rookie of the year: Naruto Uzumaki".

* * *

"Well done Naruto." exclaimed Ayame as she served the ecstatic boy another heaping bowl of miso ramen. The boy grinned widely at the ramen shop girl before diving into the new bowl of heavenly noodles.

"Indeed" said the blond's companion, an old man in white robes with the kanji of fire shadow on the back." You are now the youngest to ever graduate the ninja academy. I'm truly proud of you," the old man smiled. '_He is truly your son, Minato'_ "However," he continued, "you have a long and dangerous road ahead of you, never slack in continuing your progress."

Naruto grinned and his blue eyes glowed with excitement. "No worries old man! I promise to be the greatest ninja ever." With a mischievous grin he turned to his pseudo grandfather. "So how about you teach me a jutsu as a graduation present?"

Three days later after mastering the shadow clone jutsu the old man taught him, Naruto was sitting in class awaiting his team announcement.

"Team 12: Naruto Uzumaki, Hana Inuzuka and Jin Miyamoto, your sensei is Mikoto Uchiha."

_A.N Whew… finally done! Now to get those pesky questions out of the way: The pairing for this fic will be Naruto/harem… Sorta. You'll have to read it and see but romance does not play a big factor in this and no none of the rookie 9 will be paired with him. In fact, depending on how people vote I may make him 2 years older than they are. What do you guys think_

_Naruto will be very skilled in this and after reading the manga the only way to really super power him is to make him a Super Saiyan I mean come on Madara can use the Rinnegan and the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan and head off all 5 kage…_


	2. Chapter 2

Naruto let out a bored sigh and eyed his two new teammates. It had been ten minutes since the last team had left with their sensei and his fellow team 12 members were lounging impatiently against the wall. Hana was tapping her foot impatiently and her Ninken, the Haimaru triplets, were running circles around the classroom nipping at each other. She was tall for her age, over a foot taller than Naruto's 4' and her pretty face was adorned with the red fang markings of the Inuzuka clan. Her dark brown hair was wrapped into a pony tail and she was clad in a beige flak jacket and form fitting black shorts. Seemingly sensing his attention on her, she looked up and her dark black eyes met his. To his surprise, however, her face flushed the color of her clan markings and she turned away. Confused and idly wondering if she was sick, he smiled. Hana would make a good teammate. She was not only the top kunoichi, but she was also really smart and had scored higher than him on the written portion of the exam.

Turning his attention to the final member of the team he let out a frustrated sigh. Jin Miyamoto was the class's worst student and had passed the graduation exam by the skin of his teeth. He was a short boy with dark brown hair and blue eyes. He was clad in a dark green shirt and gray pants.

He was a first generation Ninja, his father was one of the more prominent Blacksmiths in the village and his mother ran a small grocery store. Naruto noticed that he was becoming increasingly nervous, as he had started to lightly sweat and he kept glancing at Hana ever so often when he thought she wasn't looking.

Sincerely hoping the boy didn't drag them down, Naruto glanced back toward the clock on the wall and noticed it had been a full 20 minutes since the last team had left. Growing impatient and wondering where the hell his sensei was, he was about to close his eyes and bug Kurama when his sensitive nose picked up a hint of feminine perfume. Glancing around to see who noticed it as well, he slowly snaked his hand towards his Kunai pouch.

* * *

From her hiding place on the ceiling, a woman assessed her future Genin with an eager smile on her face. The "dead last", Jin, would take a lot of work. From his posture and what she had seen of his grades he would be lucky if he wasn't killed on his first C-ranked mission. He also appeared far more nervous than waiting on a new sensei should entail. To her great amusement, she also noticed that he appeared to have a crush on her female student.

She was very excited to have Hana as a student. Not only was she good friends with the young kunoichi's mother, Tsume, but the girl had scored near the top of the class and carried herself the way a proper kunoichi should. Turning to her last student, her smile fell. There he was: the son of her best friend and the prodigy who had even beaten her son's record at graduating from the academy. Unbidden a sad grin crossed her face at the thought of what her boisterous friend would say about that. He was the very picture of a young Minato coupled with his mother's slightly stockier build. His cerulean eyes glittered with familiar intelligence and mischief and made her heart shiver with longing for her fallen friends. He was wearing an orange track suit and despite the eyesore carried himself like a skilled ninja, calmly and enthusiastically assessing his teammates much like she was. '_He looks… happy_.' She thought, '_Not what you would expect from a young orphan who was all alone in the world_.'

She had petitioned the Hokage several times to adopt him into the protection of the Uchiha clan, but after the Kyuubi attack, suspicion of her clan had reached an all time high and the venerable Hokage had turned her down._'Your parents would be proud of you, Naruto,'_ she thought gently before noticing the boy and his female teammate tense up and glance around frantically. Realizing that the wind had changed suddenly and the two genin had caught her scent, she jumped down to reveal herself.

_'Wow,'_ was all Naruto could think as the woman gracefully slipped out for her hiding place on the ceiling. _'I didn't even sense her and yet she was here the whole time.'_

"**That's because she has no negative emotion towards you,"** Mumbled Kurama, who appeared to be just waking up from a nap or whatever it was he did when Naruto wasn't talking to him. **"You will have to raise your awareness if you wish to sense those with neutral intentions."**

The blond silently agreed before studying his new teacher. She was of average height and wore a brown blouse and knee length purple skirt coupled with blue shinobi sandals. Her hair was black and came down just to her eyes. The orbs were the familiar dark black expected of a member of the Uchiha clan and yet her fair skin and pleasant smile brought a small flush to the boys face.

"You two did well to notice me" said her playful voice, breaking the boy from his musing.

"I am Mikoto Uchiha, and I am most pleased to be the sensei of team 12" she bowed slightly and smiled when they returned the gesture."Please meet me on the roof," and in a swirl of leaves she was gone. The three genin blinked and stared for a moment before Naruto vanished in a swirl of leaves. Hana gathered her now tired ninken and vanished as well. Biting his lip and cursing the fact that he didn't know the body flicker technique, Jin headed for the stairs.

"We have one final business to attend to before we are officially listed as team 12." said Mikoto when her last student finally arrived, panting frantically for breath. "A test to see if you are truly ready for the harshness of shinobi life."

In a burst of speed she appeared behind the startled Jin and held a kunai to his neck. "Kill Hana, or Jin dies." She was pleased to see that despite the shocked looks on their faces, both her students had palmed a couple of kunai when she moved. Seeing as how they made no move to follow her instructions and Jin appeared ready to faint in sheer fright, she lowered her weapon.

"On the battlefield, scenarios like this can play out a hundred different ways. As Konoha shinobi, you must always maintain your vigilance and look out for your teammates." as her words sunk in, she quickly threw her kunai at Naruto who parried it with his own.

"Show me what you can do" she uttered before launching a spin kick that sent Jin flying and dodging Hana's attempt at a surprise punch from behind. Kicking the girl's legs out from under her, she was forced to postpone her finishing attack, when the girl's three large dogs leapt towards her face. Moving quickly, she sent all three dogs flying with a small burst of chakra, only to dodge a super fast kick from her youngest student, who in an impressive display of taijutsu began launching a series of punches and kicks trying to break through her defenses. He was incredibly fast for a genin and she marveled at the way he adapted to every dodge and attack she used. Finally, he over-extended on a punch and catching his arm she swung him and slammed him into the ground, only to be shocked when he burst into smoke. _'S__hadow clone_' she noted, impressed despite herself.

Naruo had used his clone's distraction wisely and helped his groaning teammates to their feet.

"Hana, you are much better than me in Taijutsu. I need you to engage her and give me time to form hand signs." He turned to Jin, "your taijutsu isn't very good, but I need you to pepper her with attacks whenever you see an opening and keep the pressure off Hana."

Jin looked a bit put out by this assessment of his skills but nodded. "I'm ready."

When Mikoto popped his shadow clone, the two launched their attacks towards the Uchiha. The blond could not help but be impressed as the jonin dodged, and wove through the genin's simultaneous attacks as if the two were moving in slow motion. Forming hand signs quickly he launched his jutsu.

It had become apparent to him during his studies at the academy, that he had a natural talent for genjutsu. Whether this was because he was Kurama's jinchuriki or some latent talent received from his parents he did not know, but he found he was able to modify even the simple C and D-ranked genjutsu he learned at the academy library to deadly affect. This particular one was a C-ranked jutsu called Magen-Shuriken Storm. It caused the opponent to hear and see hundreds of shuriken coming towards them, causing them to dodge or block an attack that wasn't there.

It seemed to be particularly effective on Mikoto, whose instincts kicked in and caused her to quickly catch Hana's sidekick and slam her into the ground, sending her into unconsciousness, and in one continuous motion she tripped Jin, who was attempting to stab her with a kunai. With both of her genin down on the ground behind her, she positioned herself protectively over them and began blocking the perceived shuriken with her kunai.. when she didn't hear the tell tale sound of metal on metal she quickly moved to form the dispelling technique when the tip of a shuriken she let fly past her, nicked her skin causing a thin trail of blood to flow down her arm.

_'C__lever'_ she thought as she activated her sharingan and dispelled the genjutsu. _'He realized I would quickly realize it was a genjutsu and threw actual shuriken to extend the effects of his attack.'_ She was reminded suddenly of what it was like to spar with her oldest son, as a trio of shadow clones engaged her in a fight, their speed and teamwork allowing them to keep her off guard. Jin had recovered from his earlier fall, but his clumsy attempt to rejoin the fight disrupted the tandem teamwork of the clones and she was able to dispel them before knocking him unconscious with a blow to the head.

As soon as he saw the three tomoes of a mature sharingan he knew they had lost. He had been hoping that despite the Uchiha name, that she wouldn't actually have the powerful doujutsu. after all, it was a well known fact that less than half the clan had the ability to activate them. And with Hana and Jin out of the fight and most of his current technique arsenal being genjutsu, there was little he could do but hope to get lucky. Watching her dispel the last of his shadow clones, he quickly forced chakra into his legs and launched a surprise attack.

The attack came with surprising speed for a genin, she noted as her sharingan easily picked up the boys movements. Blocking his attempt to blindside her with a kick from behind, she grabbed his leg and hit him with a kick of her own, sending him crashing into the nearby water tank. Deactivating her dojutsu, she took a deep breath and smiled at her defeated team. They had done quite well.

A half an hour later her team had recovered and was watching her in stunned awe as she went over the battle.

"You three did well for newly graduated genin" she stated, repressing a grin when Jin's eyes lit up with pride. "I was impressed with your teamwork, however, your individual skills are lacking. Hana," she said turning towards her female student,"your taijutsu is pretty good for a genin, you are both strong and quick, however your lack of coordination with your ninken and single minded focus, prevented you from using any ninjutsu and reduced your overall effectiveness." The young brunette looked ashamed as her teacher continued, "We will have to work on increasing your speed, and I will ask your mother to drill you harder in using your clan techniques. As for you, Jin, your taijutsu style was mediocre at best and you are entirely too slow, we will have to work on your taijutsu forms and get you started on some speed drills. And you, Naruto. Your plan was quite good and your usage of genjutsu was flawless, however we will have to work on increasing your Jutsu repertoire."

Seeing as they understood she reached into her pocket and produced three small slips of paper "This is chakra paper. Channel a little chakra into it and it will reveal which elemental affinity you possess." The three genin did as bid and discovered that Hana possessed an affinity for water, Jin for earth and in the case of Naruto, wind and fire. Mikoto explained that it normally took years for one to completely master their elemental affinity and that mastering two elements was a requirement to be an elite jonin like herself. With that done, she released them for the day telling them to meet her at training ground 12 at 10 Am. His fellow teammates left quickly but a look from Mikoto had Naruto staying behind.

"What is it sensei?" he asked curiously.

"Your mother would be very proud of you," she said suddenly, much to the boy's surprise.

"Did you know her well?" he finally asked, staring off towards the Hokage monument where his father's face hung proudly.

"We were best friends and teammates. She was a like a wildfire, full of energy and strength ,and I miss her every day."

Naruto smiled sadly and said nothing for a moment before responding. "She sounds like a great woman. And my father? What was he like?"

Mikoto hesitated a minute before smiling softly at him, "Your father was a great man. And one day, when I am able, I will tell you about him. Train hard and make your parents proud by becoming the strongest ninja you can become. " Turning to leave she paused. "I was prevented from taking care of you like I wanted," she said gently, "but if you need anything. Well, you know where to find me." She the vanished in a swirl of leaves.

The young boy gazed at the monument for another moment before vanishing as well.

* * *

Mikoto believed firmly in grounding her team in the basics before undergoing missions, so team 12's first six weeks as ninja was spent with intense training.

Hana began learning more about her clan's fighting style and practiced every day on two new clan jutsu taught to her by her mother. She seemed to have developed an interest in medicine and spent hours perfecting her chakra control and devouring medical scrolls. Luckily for her, Jin was a bit of a clutz and the after effects of his own harsh training left him with plenty of bruises and scrapes for her to mend. Jin spent his days sparring every morning with Naruto and Hana, while Mikoto stood on the sidelines and slowly corrected his atrocious fighting style. He had also mastered one of two elemental jutsu Mikoto had showed him:Earth Release: Earth Wall,which created a large wall of earth to be used as a shield, as well as Earth Release: Inner Decapitation Skill, which allowed him to burrow underground and catch his opponent unawares. He was also working on mastering the body flicker technique. It was slow going because unlike his teammates, he had little training with chakra control, but that was slowly being repaired by Mikoto's rigorous tree climbing and water walking exercises in which Naruto and Hana threw blunted senbon at their struggling teammate while he was trying to concentrate. It had lead to a lot of painful falls and near-drownings but his chakra control was shooting up rapidly.

If his teammates progress was impressive after only 6 weeks,then Naruto's was truly astounding. Now having a skilled instructor, he was able to learn 4 new elemental jutsu: two wind and two fire. He also mastered the Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu_._ His fight with Mikoto had revealed to him some of the glaring weaknesses in his fighting style and the next day he increased his speed and endurance training by tying heavier rocks to himself when swimming and increasing his ankle weights. His increased progress with kunai balancing had his chakra control shooting up and this control coupled with sparring daily with an experienced jonin greatly increased his skill with weaving genjutsu. He was now working on casting two genjutsu simultaneously.

Having exhausted all the available knowledge in the academy library and wanting to not only live up to the legacy of his ancestors but also honor his agreement with Kurama, Naruto turned to the Sandaime for help in learning more about seals. The old man was only too happy to help the young prodigy and he soon found himself immersed in seal theory and learning about different sealing methods. He was soon able to seal small items into scrolls and was working on learning about resistance seals.

The major benefit in becoming a genin he learned, was that not only was he allowed in the genin section of the konoha library, but he also received his very own copy of the bingo book, which was a veritable who's who of powerful and dangerous ninja. The konoha library was restricted to ninja only and was guarded quite well by a team of anbu and one very burly librarian who upon sensing his chakra levels, was clearly a former jonin. The areas were sectioned off by rank and Naruto quickly made his way into the genin section. There were few actual techniques here, as it was deemed the responsibility of jounin-sensei to teach their students jutsu when they were ready for it. After all, no one wanted inexperienced genin trying to perform techniques too powerful for them to control and blowing themselves up. There were however basic scrolls on many shinobi disciplines from cryptology to kenjutsu as well as more advanced chakra control exercises and scrolls detailing several different taijutsu forms. Naruto focused more on learning more tips on chakra control as well as learning and practicing some of the more speed oriented taijutsu forms.

In between their individual training times, Mikoto also had them perform team work drills and had them practicing different formations for hours on end. Despite his young age, due to Naruto's actions during Mikoto's assessment of the team, as well as Hana and Jin's lack of the proper mindset, he found himself in the position of team leader and directing his teammates as needed. This arrangement worked out quite well and with their growing skill during subsequent spars with their sensei, they were able to finally land a decisive blow, using Hana's _tsuuga_ and Jin's earth wall to funnel their sensei's attacks and allow Naruto to trap her in a particularly strong genjutsu, and land a strong kick to her abdomen. Their sensei looked quite proud of them, before she suddenly increased her speed to unseen levels and easily knocking the three Unconscious .from then on the intensity of the spars increased.

Before he knew it, 6 weeks had passed and team 12 was ready to receive their first mission.

When the Sandaime announced that they had the option of either catching the fire daimyo's wife's cat, Tora or walking the Inuzuka clan dogs, Naruto was ready to plant a kunai in the laughing old man's eye.

_A.N. that's chapter 2 done..next chapter deals with more missions, increasingly difficult training and the surprise meeting between two unrivaled prodigies._

_You know, I find it really hard to believe that no one knew Naruto's parentage. I mean kushina was friends with the matriarch of the Uchiha clan so why didn't she or Kakashi look after Naruto. Plus since half the current group of ninja got beat up by Kushina and she's the only Uzumaki in Konoha, I'm quite sure they realized he's her son. And what kinda ninja doesn't know who is the woman their Hokage is living and sleeping with? You'd have to be completely dense not to see in my story the Sandaime forbade anyone from telling Naruto who his father is. I realized in writing this that most of Naruto's problems in canon is his own fault. I mean, considering how strong his parents were when they were kids, he's a big disappointment, and c'mon, would you really want to be around him?Not only is he dense, but he's rude, arrogant and believes he is strong even though he has virtually no ability, and he's too lazy to pick up a book and improve himself. I mean how would you treat the class clown in your school who constantly said he wanted to be president? You'd laugh at him too._

_W__ell 'til next time...Millennion_


	3. Chapter 3

_A.N on the advice of my most awesome beta, Trowa no Miko, I've decided to make Naruto's birth and the date of the kyuubi attack occur two years earlier than in canon._

_This means that the ages as follows are_

_Naruto-5_

Hana-10

_Jin-10_

_Itachi-8_

_A bit of background exclusive only to my Naruto world._

_Since the end of the third Great Shinobi War, the age someone enters the academy is 6 and they graduate at 10. This explains why it's the graduating age for most of the sensei. However, as time passes, the age will rise to age 8 and will end at 12 like it is in the canon. This is due to the fact that there is no shortage of ninja by the time the canon starts._

_Also it appears that besides Kakashi, who became a chunin within a year, it took all of the Rookie 12 sensei and even Itachi and Minato several years to become a chunin._

_This would actually make a great deal of sense as you'd want your genin to have a chance to gain experience and grow in strength before promoting them. So the reason for having rookie genin participate in the chunin exams in canon was shoddy at best. So in this fic the experience needed to become a chunin is 1 year minimum as a genin_

_There is a bit of a time skip since the end of the last chapter it is now 6 months since Naruto became a genin._

* * *

Naruto twisted to the left to avoid the flurry of shuriken heading in his direction. Knowing his opponent's unusual ability with shuriken jutsu he kept his momentum going into a series of back flips, forming hand signs all the while and sending a huge gust of wind to flush out his opponent. The move worked, and a bluish figure leapt out of its position hidden in a tree to spout a gout of fire at him. The jutsu was enhanced by the increased wind presence caused by Naruto's wind attack and only his superior speed allowed him to dodge it. The two sized each other up a moment before forming hand signs rapidly. In a hiss of steam, Naruto's fire dragon met an equally fierce water dragon created by his opponent. As the two chakra constructs clashed the two shot forward at extreme speed to engage each other in a taijutsu match fit more for a pair of chunin than the genin they were. Naruto's attacks were faster but while he had no shortage of skill it was clear his older opponent had even more. The outcome should have been obvious but they had been battling for over 30 minutes now and it was clear his foe was beginning to tire. Their taijutsu dance continued,each dodging and striking in a beautiful series of punches and kicks. Naruto blocked a punch to the face and swept his left leg to remove his opponent's footing before attempting to finish him off with an elbow to the stomach. His opponent dodged the blow and kicked the blond in the chest sending him skidding back several feet.

"Too slow, Naruto" said the dulcet tones of Itachi Uchiha, the three tomoes of his mature sharingan watching for any hint of movement by his stunned sparring partner.

The two had met 2 months ago when the boy had stopped by to deliver a message to his mother. The two geniuses hit it off immediately and were unable to resist having a spar to see who was stronger. It was surprisingly close, as although Itachi's skill and experience was greater, his stamina and chakra capacity was not, and Naruto's ability to shrug off most physical attacks led to a narrow victory for the Uchiha clan heir.

Since then, unless one of them had a mission the two would meet once a week for a spar.

Win or lose it didn't matter. For them, it was a comfort to meet another who had been blessed with unnatural talent and the high expectations that came with it. Both of their skill levels began to rise even further as their friendly rivalry continued to push each other to their limits. As it stood, Itachi was more skilled in taijutsu and ninjutsu while Naruto's speed and stamina greatly eclipsed the clan heir's. Both possessed equal skill in casting and dispelling genjutsu.

"Screw you, Itachi," shouted Naruto, flipping back onto his feet and settling into his fighting stance. _'Itachi is tired,'_ he thought,_'that water dragon used up most of his chakra, so if I keep him off balance with a continuous assault, I'll win this match.'_

Smirking at the older boy, he started to launch forward in a burst of speed before a loud cough, halted his attack. Turning towards the sound of the interruption he spotted his female teammate. "We have a mission," she said softly, enraptured and slightly jealous by the match she had just seen. Naruto never failed to astonish her. In the 6 months since they had graduated the academy, she and Jin had improved drastically, growing faster and stronger and learning several new justu. She herself now had perfect chakra control and was even learning some medical ninjustu in her spare time. Jin had taken to Mikoto-sensei's kenjutsu lessons like a fish to water and now wielded a tanto with surprising skill. And yet, for every jutsu she mastered or kenjutsu kata Jin learned, Naruto was always two steps ahead. she mused that if it wasn't for the easygoing nature the boy possessed she probably would have hated him for it and not merely be enamored as she was now.

"What is it?" said the boy excitedly, breaking her from her reverie.

"C-rank escort mission. Taking some fat merchant to Suna."

"That sucks. Well 'Tachi looks like it's a draw."

"Indeed. I will work harder on my stamina training while you are gone," turning to leave he paused. "Good luck, my friend," he whispered before vanishing in a swirl of leaves.

* * *

The road towards Suna was a long one. Due to the large copse of trees lining the way, it only took 4 hours at shinobi speed to reach the border of fire country, however once they entered earth country the slow desert trek began. It was hot and humid and the constant complaints by their sheltered client did little to help team 12's mood

"Can I kill him?" muttered Jin, grasping his tanto longingly.

"Tempting," replied Hana, her three faithful Ninken following closely behind her, "but do you want to explain euthanizing a client to Hokage-sama?"

"I'm sure Jiji would understand," uttered their youngest teammate, who was expertly juggling several kunai. The now 6 year old, arguably had the worst time of it, as his young body was still too undeveloped to make such a trip easily. Mikoto had chosen to stick close to the client and had allowed the three genin to take point, while delicately resisting the client's amorous advances.

Suddenly the distinct sound of metal soaring through air reached Hana's sensitive ears and she screamed, "Duck!" Her teammates dropped instantly and Mikoto half-tackled the team's confused client to the ground, saving him from a crossbow bolt to the head.

Calculating the bolts trajectory, Naruto launched a brace of kunai at the sound and was rewarded with a sharp scream of pain.

A teenage shinobi with an Iwa hitai-ate and a chunin flak jacket, materialized out of nowhere.

_'Some kinda camouflage technique,'_ thought the blond before body flickering over to his screaming foe,and silencing him with a slice across the throat. To his shock the body burst into a pool of mud and a strong kick from behind sent him flying across the sand. Twirling into a spin he regained his footing just in time to block a flurry of punches to his face. Unable to form any hand signs due to the ferocity of the attack, Naruto feinted a punch to the older ninja's face. Just as predicted the Iwa-nin tilted his head to the side to dodge the perceived blow and was thus unprepared when the boy kicked up a bunch of sand into the man's eye and landed a powerful blow to his stomach. Recovering quickly, he searched furiously for the boy who had disappeared. To his shock a tall figure appeared in the distance and approached him slowly. He had blond hair and wore a green jonin flak jacket, covered by a white coat with red flames and the Kanji for Fire Shadow. The horrified Iwa-nin backed up quickly.

"Nooo," he moaned furiously. "You're dead… Kai." When the man failed to disappear after his attempt to use the dispelling technique, he turned and ran as fast as his legs would carry him. He had barely gone a few yards when the figure appeared in a yellow flash in front of him, calmly twirling the tri-pronged Kunai he had made famous.

The horrible truth sunk into the Iwa-nin and he sunk to his knees in despair, never even noticing the kunai that slit his throat from behind.

'I love genjutsu' whispered Naruto as he wiped the blade of his kunai on the desert sand.

"**Masterfully done, Brat."** Said Kurama, who for once wasn't slumbering in his cage.

Despite the pact the two had made, the demon claimed that right now Naruto's life was too boring. Thus, he spent most of his time sleeping.

"It was easy, even years after his death my father is still the ultimate boogieman for anyone from Iwa. All it took was a dual layered genjutsu and the idiot was pretty much begging for death," the entire exchange lasted less than two minutes and by the time he turned to head back to his team, he found them in a semi-circle interrogating the client.

"Your prowess with genjutsu is getting scary," said Mikoto who finally seemed satisfied with the client's pleas that the attack had nothing to do with him.

"It was nothing. I have more of a challenge in my spars with your son"

"I see," she laughed, "why do you suppose he attacked us?"

"Probably coming back from some mission in Suna and couldn't resist taking a shot at Konoha."

"What should we do now?" piped in Hana, who looked upset she had missed out on the fight.

"Continue the mission," said Jin.

* * *

Suna was a hellhole decided Naruto as he escorted the client to his destination: Suna's famous steel market. The village was full of dull brown buildings and seemed to be cursed with a perpetual sandstorm. as if that wasn't irritating enough, he also had to deal with the annoyance of having badly hidden Suna anbu, following him. It seemed that despite the treaty that existed between them, the Hidden Sand Village did not completely trust their northern allies. A wise decision considering they were all ninja and thus prone to back stabbing at the most opportune moment. Naruto equated it to holding a wolf by the teeth, you didn't like it but you didn't dare let it go. Now that the mission was completely over, and he had several hours before he had to rendezvous with his team. He decided to do some exploring around the city. Somehow he ended up at one of the Suna training grounds where he spotted a blonde girl close to his age swinging a fan with surprising dexterity.

Due to the unique circumstances concerning his birth and his rapid progression at the academy, he had not had much opportunity to interact with children his own was not a huge surprise considering that at an age when most kids were playing ninja for fun or learning how to hold a kunai properly, he was slitting the throat of some foolish bandit. His curiosity getting the better of him,he decided to approach the girl. She was cute and tall for her age, her hair was tied into four pigtails and she had piercing emerald eyes. So intent was she on her training however, that she jumped when he appeared beside her and said hello.

Before he could explain himself, he was forced to dodge the fan she swung at him.

"Wait a minute," he protested, easily dodging the fan again. She ignored him a continued her assault, becoming more and more frustrated when he easily dodged her attacks.

Finally he had enough and in one deft movement plucked the fan from the startled girl's hands. "Calm down, I just wanted to say hi." The girl seemed to have calmed down and he handed her the fan back, only to wince when she kicked him in the shin.

"What was that for?" he moaned.

She had the nerve to smirk at him. "For surprising a lady."

"You're no lady," he muttered rubbing his bruised shin.

"What was that?"

"Nothing. Anyway I'm Naruto Uzumaki."

"Temari," she said finally, looking at him suspiciously.

"You were training really hard there, are you a genin?"

"I just started my first year in the academy, are you a student there as well?"

"Nope," he laughed, pointing towards his forehead Protector.

She gasped when she saw the leaf symbol. "Aren't you kinda young to already be a shinobi? You must be amazing."

Naruto blushed. "I'm pretty good, I guess. I train hard every day."

"What's konoha like?" she asked with sudden shyness.

"It's a beautiful place, full of trees and tall, colorful buildings, there are tons of really cool wild animals in the forests around the village and we have some of the best waterfalls in the elemental nations."

"It sounds like a great place," whispered the girl, enraptured by his words. "I wish I could visit there someday."

"Then you should," Naruto stood up quickly and grabbed the surprised girl by the hand, missing completely the blush that suddenly appeared. "Promise me that you will train hard and become a great kunoichi, and come visit my village some day. I'll show you around myself." The blond girl could do nothing but nod at the boy's enthusiasm. "It's a promise".

The two spent the next few hours talking and before they knew it was time for Naruto to leave.

"Don't forget your promise." She reminded him. Naruto grinned widely at her before nodding and vanishing in a swirl of leaves.

-2 years later-

Naruto made his way quickly through the trees, heading towards the training ground 12. The 8 year old was a blur as he sidestepped low hanging branches and jumped from tree to tree.

He had grown nearly a foot in the last two years, reaching a height over 5 ft. He wore a dark orange shirt and dark blue pants covered by a vest in which several storage scrolls were stashed. Strapped to his back was a sheathed tanto. With increased size, his physical training had increased dramatically over the years, and he moved from small weights to gravity seals to increase his speed and endurance . His weekly spars with Itachi, inspired him to excel in speed based attacks and with his growing prowess with his wind affinity, he was undoubtedly the fastest genin in Konoha. After devouring all the basic knowledge of sealing available he was forced to go to the Hokage for more advanced books on the sealing arts. The old man was happy to help and gave him a set of scrolls once owned by his own mother who had apparently left them in the Hokage's office before she died. He devoured this knowledge with all the skill expected of a member of the Uzumaki clan and he was even able to teach a few seals to his best friend, Itachi. His skill in ninjutsu and genjutsu had skyrocketed as well and he had reached the median level in training his affinities. His spars with Itachi had increased in their ferocity as both boys implored greater techniques and more refined strategies. The score was now tied with 40 victories each.

Finally reaching the training ground he spotted his was perusing through some medical scrolls. She had grown a lot as well in the last few years and at age 14 was now a little over 5'6. She wore a beige blouse and a brown skirt that, to Naruto's embarrassment, only accentuated her growing bust and long legs. She had grown much stronger since their assessment on the academy roof. She had mastered all of her clan jutsu and was also an accredited Medic Nin. She had also learned several new water jutsu and had mastered her water affinity. Her teamwork with her ninken was impregnable and the three dogs had gotten massive and now stood at near equal height to Naruto himself.

His last teammate was going through kenjutsu kata's while Mikoto-sensei watched with pride. Jin had grown the most over the year,s reaching an impressive 5'8. No longer the talentless boy he'd been, he was now an expert with a sword and equally quick with his earth jutsu. Spotting his teammate he laughed, "better late than never Naruto."

As the two began to rib each other playfully, Mikoto watched her team with pride.

They had grown so much and she was very impressed with the bonds of friendship that had been forged between them. She was especially grateful for Naruto, who had been an amazing influence on her genius of a son. Itachi had always been withdrawn and entirely too wise for his age. This caused him to have very few friends even in the clan and Mikoto had feared of what such solitude and loneliness would do to her son. Naruto was a kindred spirit and the two geniuses brought the best out of each other. _'You would be so proud of him Kushina,'_ she thought._'H__e has truly become the best of both of you. '_

Truthfully the rate of growth he showed was almost frightening. He picked up techniques like an Akimachi ate food and she was now no longer certain she could defeat him in an all out fight. While she was certain she was still stronger and faster than him, she was not ashamed to admit he was smarter than she was, and could come up with ingenious strategies on the fly. His chakra capacity and control was also far above her own. Who would win? Perhaps she'd find out…one day.

"Team 12, I hereby nominate you for the chunin exams."

A.N whew finally done.

Before anyone whines about Naruto being too strong, remember that there is a key difference between skill and power. Naruto in canon is all power with very little skill. In this story he has an excellent blend of both. Can he beat Mikoto? I don't know yet but it will be close. After all Mikoto is just a regular jonin. Decent, but she's no Kakashi or Gai.

Considering that at 13 Itachi was S-class and capable of killing an entire clan… I think the power-levels are fine.

Next chapter will be the chunin exams, with a lot of familiar faces battling it out.

Til next time… Millennion.


	4. Chapter 4

Naruto bristled with anticipation as he watched the veritable sea of genin gathered at the entrance to the academy. Every major nation in the elemental countries was represented.

Konoha had 4 teams entering:

Team 12, which included himself, Hana, and Jin.

Team 9, consisted of Itachi, a really cute purple haired girl named Yugao who, like himself, carried a tanto on her back, and an average looking pineapple headed boy named Iruka. While Naruto had never actually met Itachi's teammates, he did know they were at least fairly skilled from what little Itachi had mentioned about them.

The third Konoha team consisted of Mitarashi Anko, another purple headed girl, who wore a fishnet top with a beige jacket. She was rumored to be the former apprentice of the infamous traitor, Orochimaru_. 'She would certainly be skilled then,'_ thought the boy as he assessed her teammates. They looked rather unimpressive, but the way the two stood protectively over each other, told him that they were very close and thus probably had excellent teamwork. Their names were Kotetsu and Izumo.

The final Konoha team was a bit Mysterious. It consisted of Ibiki Morino, who was the apprentice of the head of Konoha's interrogation unit, Inochi Yamanaka. He was burly for a genin and wore a blue Bandanna over his head. The second boy was the supposed Kenjutsu Prodigy, Gekko Hayate, who was rumored to have already mastered three different sword styles. He wore a light colored haori and gray pants and carried a katana in a string attached to his hip.

Their final member was named Tokra, an unknown boy with dark brown hair and blue eyes.

The rest of the genin looked fairly weak over all; however, there were several visiting teams that stood out to his sensor abilities:First was a team from Kumo, that rather unusually consisted of two girls and one boy, who all carried swords. The first girl was quite tall and had blond hair, pale blue eyes and an impressive bust. The second girl was dark skinned, with red hair and amber eyes, while the boy was dark skinned as well and possessed spiky white hair. The three genin had large amounts of chakra and from the lack of fear they showed, they were either extremely foolish or very strong.

The Mist team was throwing of a large amount of killing intent. Its ranks consisted of a pretty girl in gray shinobi paints and a blue haori; the two boys wielded chain gauntlets and were obviously brothers.

Lastly there was the surprising team from Iwa, who kept shooting him assessing looks.

It consisted of a really large boy with dark hair and plump cheeks; he was standing protectively behind a girl with pink eyes and raven black hair. Their final teammate was a bulky boy who carried a pair of trench knives.

Naruto turned his eyes back towards his teammates and grinned widely, this should be good.

* * *

The first exam was fairly simple. It consisted of a written exam in which the examinees had to cheat to gain the information from planted false examinees and a few exceptional geniuses. An impressive display of cheating techniques filled the room as chunin examiners failed those who were too obvious. Naruto merely formed a few quick handsigns under the table then laid back and waited for the test to be over.

"How'd you cheat?" asked Hana after the last team had been failed and the three of them waited to enter the second exam.

"I didn't I merely trapped the examiners in a genjutsu to make them think I filled it out." Naruto laughed at the dumbstruck look on her face and readied himself to enter the dangerous forest.

* * *

The second exam was fairly complicated: 20 heavens and earth scrolls were hidden throughout the forest. Their objective was to not only find a scroll, but also take a scroll of the opposite type while dodging dangerous traps, ferocious beasts and the treachery of their fellow genin. Using Hana's tracking abilities they found a heaven scroll really quickly, before a brace of shuriken hurled at them from behind. They replaced themselves with a log and turned to face their ambushers. It was a team from Suna, consisting of two boys and a girl. "I got this one Naruto," said to Jin, drawing his Tanto.

Before the trio of Sand genin could attack, he had crossed the gap between them, slicing his sword through the arm of one of the boys who screamed in pain. While the sand genin turned to help their fallen comrade, Hana readied her justsu, and with a tsuuga sent the female genin smashing into a tree and knocking her unconscious. To the utter disgust of team 12, the final genin screeched in terror and abandoned his teammates, running deeper into the forest. Before he could get far, Naruto disappeared in a burst of speed and sliced the cowardly genin in two.

"Coward," he muttered, sheathing his sword.

The trio wandered for a few hours looking for an Earth scroll, dispatching any team foolish enough to challenge them. Finally they spotted one in the possession of a team from Grass who was battling a team from Ame. Since the two fighting teams had yet to notice their silent approach, Naruto wove a genjutsu around the fighting genin and once they were successfully ensnared, his teammates launched a series of kunai that pierced the Rain ninjas in the chest and grievously wounded the surviving Grass ninja. Hana picked up their scroll and the three made their way confidently to the tower, beating the record once held by Minato Namikaze, by three hours.

* * *

Finally, three days later, the 7th and final team had arrived and the preliminary bouts were about to begin. The Sandaime gave a speech about how the exams were a substitute for war and a jonin wearing green spandex jumped in to referee.

"Yosh, the flames of youth in this room is simply exploding! I'm Maito Gai, the Beautiful Green Beast of Konoha and I will be your referee, let your flames of youth explode in glorious battle." He then flashed the audience a blinding smile and Naruto palmed his face in embarrassment. You'd never think that Gai had the third highest bounty in Konoha.

"In the interest of time," he announced, "the matches will be team on team. Whichever team has at least one member standing wins. Killing is allowed, however it is very unyouthful and thus I will stop you if you go too far. due to the odd number of teams, one team will get a bye."

* * *

Match One- Konoha's Team 9 vs. Team 6

Itachi dropped down silently and assessed his competition. Anko was rumored to be the apprentice of Orochimaru, which meant she was certain to be skilled.

Her teammates had gathered in a crane formation, back to back, which meant they were going to attack together…_' I can probably outmatch Anko, but if their teamwork is good enough, Izumo and Kotetsu may be the greater threat,' _thought the genius.

"Yugao, you and Iruka take Anko, I'll handle the other two." Years of working together had built up a great amount of faith in their younger teammate's judgment and the two obeyed without question, launching a tandem attack on Anko, who grinned maniacally and launched several snakes from her sleeves to attack them. Yugao merely dodged, drawing her sword as she did. Iruka, however, was too slow and was bitten.

He screamed in pain and was unable to dodge the three quick punches to the stomach and the roundhouse kick that sent him blissfully into unconsciousness. The two purple haired females eyed each other fiercely, circling like tigers before a hunt. Anko moved first, throwing several kunai with pinpoint accuracy that Yugao deflected with her sword.

It turned out to be a feint as Anko used the time to move in close and launch a series of kicks and punches that kept Yugao on her guard dodging and blocking as well as she could before being forced to drop her sword to catch a particularly vicious blow to the shoulder. Gripping Anko's arm tightly she twisted and attempted to slam the girl into the ground. The trench coat wearing genin performed a handstand and spun to kick Yugao in the face sending her flying back. Attempting to capitalize on her increased momentum, she rapidly wove through seals: "fire style: fire ball jutsu:"

a giant fireball launched towards Yugao, who sped forward to grab her sword and with a burst of water chakra sliced through the incoming fireball, splitting it in two. Refusing to allow her opponent to get enough distance to use her sword properly, Anko formed her shadow snake hands again and as Yugao sliced through them, she got in close and in a spectacular display of taijutsu skill launched an unrelenting flurry of punches and kicks that that managed to once again separate her fellow purple head from her sword.

Yugao counterattacked and the two begin a taijutsu dance that left the spectators in awe. Yugao landed a punch into Anko's stomach, who returned the favor with an elbow to the face. They began trading blows even faster, neither able to get a decisive blow. Suddenly, to Anko's surprise, Yugao jumped back quickly. Thinking her opponent was trying to get a hold of her sword again, Anko moved to attack before feeling the steel tip of a kunai against her throat. Glancing up in anger her eyes met the impassive ones of Itachi.

Itachi's fight had ended rather quickly, while Izumo and Kotetsu did indeed have impressive teamwork, they were simply too slow to hit him, and he dodged and wove through their attacks and knocked them both unconscious with quick blows to the head from his hidden shadow clones.

Seeing Yugao 's close match with Anko, he decided to intercede and silently snuck up behind the surprised Anko.

"Winner: team 9" announced Gai.

Lowering his kunai, Itachi bowed at his former opponent and, picking up Iruka, body flickered into the balcony.

* * *

**Second match**: Team 8 vs. Team Samui.

'_Wow this match is pretty boring,'_ thought Naruto as he watched the teams from Konoha and Kumo duke it out. Hayate and Ibiki were very skilled and would have probably been able to hold their own against any member of the Kumo squad had it not been for the incredible teamwork the three displayed. Samui engaged Hayate in a kenjutsu match, and while he was preoccupied Omoi and Karui doublet teamed Ibiki and quickly knocked him unconscious before doing the same to Toraku.

Now it was three on one and while Hayate, in an impressive display of skill and brilliant usage of a shadow clone, was able to take out Omoi, The combined efforts of Samui and Karui proved too much for him.

**Winner**: Team Samui.

* * *

**Final Match**: Team 12 vs. Team Momochi.

"Finally," muttered Naruto as he flipped off the balcony. Hana and Jin joined him soon after. "Which one do you want?" asked Jin, readying his blade.

"The girl has the highest amount of chakra. I'll take her." His teammates nodded and moved to engage the demon brothers. However, much to their disappointment, the brothers were fairly weak and all it took was a moment when they overextended with their gauntlet attack for the two to knock them unconscious with twin blows to the head.

"This sucks," muttered Hana, who kicked Meizu in the stomach out of sheer boredom.

"Indeed, I can't believe these two were nominated for the exams," agreed Jin who sat down on Gozu to watch Naruto's fight.

Naruto was having a blast. Haku was really fast and quite precise with her senbon needles. He dodged a punch, and with a grin twisted and elbowed her in the stomach before body flickering behind her and slamming her into the ground. She burst into water, and naruto parried the barrage of senbon that headed his way from behind with a hastily drawn kunai.

"You are good." He said happily, settling into his fighting stance, "and kinda cute too".

Haku Blushed. But settled into her own stance. "So are you, but I will not fail Zabuza-sama." The two launched themselves at each other and launched a flurry of punches and kicks that were swiftly dodged by the other. Finally, Haku managed to grip Naruto's hand with one of hers. "Now I have the advantage," she murmured, before rapidly forming handseals. "Wow," said Naruto attempting to break her surprisingly strong grip. "I didn't even know one-handed seals were possible." Haku seemed pleased at his compliment but still launched her jutsu. "Flying water needles of death!" The area around naruto filled with sharp ice needles and soared towards him at an incredibly fast rate. Quickly gathering raw wind chakra into his arm he spun, carrying Haku with him and deflecting the ice needles. Continuing his momentum he slammed Haku into the ground.

The girl recovered and slowly rose to her feet. "You are indeed strong, what is your name?" she asked.

"Naruto Uzumaki, and yours?"

"Haku. It is a pleasure to meet you Naruto-kun, however I cannot lose here"

Rapidly forming hand seals, she performed her last jutsu, "Demonic crystal Ice Mirrors."

Huge Mirrors of ice surrounded Naruto, until they encased him in a dome of ice.

Sinking into the ice, Haku began jumping from mirror to mirror.

"This is true speed," she said, while peppering him with senbon. "Give up. You cannot win, and it isn't my desire to harm you."

Naruto didn't respond verbally but launched a kunai laced with wind chakra at one of the mirrors. The kunai was able to slice half way through it before being deflected.

"Giving up's not my style, Haku-chan," he muttered before reaching into his vest and removing a scroll. "Shadow clone jutsu," he said quietly, forming ten clones. The clones launched towards the mirrors wind laced kunai in hand and were all quickly dispelled by Haku's senbon. A few seconds was all Naruto need, however, and when Haku looked up, she noticed that all of her mirrors had been tagged with exploding seals.

"Give up Haku-chan, or I blow your mirrors sky high."

"That's not enough to break through my attacks," she said before preparing to launch her senbon barrage her shock, however, one of her mirrors suddenly exploded.

She watched in horror as one by one each of her mirrors was destroyed.

She looked up when she felt the blade of a kunai across her throat.

"Do you give up?" asked the blond softly.

"Yes" she responded forlornly. "Please, how were you able to destroy my ice mirrors, with only an exploding tag?"

Naruto laughed and grinned his foxy grin. "I didn't, it was a genjutsu. your mirrors are still up,you merely fell out of the mirror once I caught you in my illusion." Haku looked bewildered for a moment before finally smiling, and leaning down kissed Naruto on the cheek before vanishing.

**Winner:** team 8

With the team from Iwa getting a bye into the next round, the preliminaries were over.

Gai had all of the remaining genin draw lots to decide the matchups for the finals.

Itachi Uchiha vs. Omoi

Jin Miyamoto vs. Yugao Uzuki.

Iruka Umino vs. Akatsuchi

Hana Inuzuka vs. Karui

Samui vs. Tetzuka

Naruto Uzumaki vs. Kurotsuchi

The finals will commence one month from now.

* * *

Naruto swiftly dodged a strike from one of his shadow clones and dispelled it with a punch, ten more clones attacked in tandem and he was forced to increase his speed and lash out with a kunai laced with wind chakra that popped all of the clones simultaneously.

Panting, he nearly missed the barrage of shuriken that headed his way. Drawing his sword he deflected the shuriken and was forced to jump as several fireballs headed his way, "wind style: wind storm." A miniature tornado formed and the hit the confined area, the wind moving so face that it tore through trees and rock, and dispelled the remaining clones that were hidden in said trees.

It had been a week since the preliminaries ended and Naruto was training harder than ever. He increased his gravity seals and spent every morning sparring with his clones. Then he would practice his chakra control while sending a group of ten clones to work on completing his elemental affinity training. So far he was able to slash halfway through a waterfall and was nearly able to hold his hand inside of a bonfire without getting burned.

Mikoto sensei had offered to train them all for the finals, however a full out spar between the two of them revealed that there was little else that she could teach him. She had won, if barely, and while it was clear that she was still faster and stronger than he was, there was little else she could teach him that he didn't already know. Only harsh training and experience would make him stronger now, unless he was able to find a much stronger teacher.

Considering the fact that the only other strong ninja he knew was the Hokage, who not only was too busy to train him, but was also so far out of his league that there was little he could gain from an occasional spar with him. So Naruto deigned to train himself, working on improving his speed and perfecting the higher-level katas of his taijutsu and kenjutsu forms.

The main advantage he had over those physically stronger than him was his incredible amounts of chakra and the increased vitality of the Uzumaki clan. With that in mind, he drastically increased his stamina and endurance training.

It was during his 2nd week of training that Kurama awoke and idly noted that his body was probably physically strong enough to handle the beginnings of his chakra cloak.

To train for this ability without scaring the whole village, Naruto rigged his training ground with seals to prevent people from sensing chakra. Kurama would then send his power coursing through his body and he would meditate to try and control it. It was tough at first, as even without trying to influence him, Kurama's chakra was incredibly potent.

After 2 weeks he was able to fully control his no tail state.

Since there was only one day until the finals began, he decided to spend the day relaxing and letting his body fully recuperate. He made his way to Ichiraku's to feast on twenty bowls of ramen. When he got there he was surprised to see a familiar face at the stand.

"How you doing Haku-chan," he asked as he motioned to Teuchi to make his usual.

"Very well Naruto-kun," uttered the girl who looked frankly surprised to see him.

"I looked for you for a week, but noone seemed to know where you were."

"Oh, sorry, I've been training really hard these last few weeks."

"Its fine, I just had a question for you."

Curious, he turned to her, "what is it Haku-chan?"

"Do you have a precious person?" she asked softly, gazing intently into his eyes.

He thought briefly of his team, and the smiling face of old man Hokage, as well as the dry humor of Itachi, before smiling. "Yes I do."

The girl seemed pleased with his answer. "I believe that when someone protects that which is precious to them, that that is when they become truly strong." Naruto was about to agree with her, when a familiar curse and loud barking echoed through the stand.

Hana Inuzuka looked surprised to see her teammate and was about to say hi, when she noticed the pretty brunette nestled so close to him. The temperature in the stand seemed to rise to everyone but an oblivious Naruto who had turned his attention back to his ramen. "Hey Hana-chan! Here to enjoy some ramen, too?" The blond shinobi waved casually at his team mate.

The Iniuzuka nodded slowly, who's your... friend, Naruto?"

"This is Haku. Remember the girl I fought during the team preliminaries?" Naruto happily replied, oblivious to the tension between the two kunoichi as he turned to devour his beloved ramen.

Hana Inuzuka gritted her teeth and held out a hand. to the Kiri nin, who returned the handshake with a strong grip. "Haku." Sparks seemed to clash as the two girls eyes met and the engaged in a furious staring contest, only to be interrupted by a loud burp from Naruto.

"That was great," he said happily. "Well gotta go, later Hana-chan, Haku-chan." He vanished in a swirl of leaves, leaving two stunned girls behind him.

* * *

Team 12 looked on in awe at the sheer magnitude of people that had arrived to see the finals. The stadium was filled with ninjas from all villages as well as merchants, and nobleman. The Fire Daimyo himself had a private balcony overlooking the ring.

In the Hokage's box, two old enemies, Oonoki and Hiruzen, greeted each other as warmly as one can greet an old foe who had slaughtered hundreds of your countrymen.

The Raikage looked amused and was secretly a little stunned to be on the same level as these great ninjas who had been legends before he was even born.

"The Konoha Chunin Exam finals will now begin." Announced Gai.

"First match: Itachi Uchiha vs. Omoi"

A.N. Well lookie there, aren't I awesome for giving you guys two chapters in one day. This chapter is only mostly edited and will be updated soon with a betaed Chapter.

Til next week. Millennion


	5. Chapter 5

The international chunin exams were a fairly recent thing. In the past, the exams were used by individual villages to evaluate their genin, however the ending of the third Great Shinobi War 6 years ago put a stop to that. In order to prevent conflict, the five Kage decided to hold the exams together. This was mainly because it allowed them to get together and show off whose ninja was superior as well as attract future clients. It had great benefit to the genin as it was a chance for them to show off their skills and raise their standing within their own village. Quite a few legends had been started from particularly talented genin, easing their way through the exams. No one had forgotten the incredible fight between Maito Gai and Hatake Kakashi all those years ago, or Minato Namikaze making it through the exams without receiving a scratch.

However this chunin exam would be special as it pitted those fated to change the shinobi world together.

Three of the five Kage made themselves comfortable and watched with carefully restrained interest, as the first fight was about to begin.

Omoi looked nervous as he settled into his fighting stance and stared into the impassive Sharingan eyes of his opponent.

While he had never heard of Itachi, the Uchiha clan was legendary even in Kumo for their battle prowess and powerful doujutsu. The fact that the boy was one of the youngest examinees here meant that he was certain to be skilled.

_'C__rap this match up sucks,"_he thought, "_t__he sharingan is well known for being able to copy jutsu which means ninjutsu is out, Genjutsu could work except I suck at it. Guess that leaves kenjutsu.'_

Drawing his blade quickly he leapt forward at full speed and attempted to take off the Uchiha's head. "Itachi merely blocked the katana with his own tanto. The two swords clashed for a few moments before a surprise blow to the back of the head sent Omoi flying and slamming into a nearby wall. He regained his senses and jumped up, only to see two identical figures watching him calmly, "Clone" he muttered shaking the dizziness from his head.

"Indeed. My eyes allow me to predict your every move, and when you launched your attack I merely formed a shadow clone to attack you from behind." Omoi looked stunned at simple tactic before settling into his stance again and shooting forward with greater speed, attempting to catch his opponent off guard. Yet again it was futile as Itachi merely blocked his attack with insulting ease and another shadow clone appeared behind him and kicked him in the chest.

"It is futile for you to resist. My training partner is much faster than this. Your attacks are simply too slow. Omoi gritted his teeth and shot forward again. Like before Itachi blocked his attack however, when the shadow clone moved to attack him from behind, he suddenly directed his blade up in a crescent moon shape and with a twist dispelled the clone with a sword to the chest. "**C****loud Style:Crescent Moon Beheading**." He looked extortionately pleased with himself and was caught off guard when Itachi disappeared and punched him in the stomach several times before sending him flying with a kick.

"Your attack is very impressive, with its continuous motion you can fend off attacks from multiple opponents, however you are still too slow to block my attacks."

* * *

In the stands, Fugaku Uchiha looked extremely pleased as he watched his son and heir decimate the genin from wife and youngest son sat beside him, Sasuke cheering loudly for his older brother.

"Go my son. Bring glory to the Uchiha clan."

In the Hokage box, the Raikage twitched in embarrassment as his genin was being kicked around the arena.

"The Uchiha clan is truly as strong as the legends say," he muttered, eyeing the Sandaime's pleased expression

"Indeed" agreed Onoki reluctantly. "I'm afraid Omoi has little chance of winning, the Uchiha isn't even trying."

"Itachi is one of the village's brightest young flames," said Hiruzen smoking thoughtfully on his pipe. "The will of fire burns hot in him.

* * *

"

Back in the arena, Omoi was quickly becoming frustrated as every attack he attempted was blocked or countered by Itachi. Desperate, he began channeling poorly harnessed lightning chakra into his blade, incasing it with lightning. Itachi looked surprised at the lightning blade, and that was all Omoi needed to cover the distance and cut the Konoha genin in two. He felt a brief second of victory when the Itachi burst into smoke and a kunai shot into his hand causing him to drop his lightning blade. Clutching his profusely bleeding hand, he was unprepared for a hard blow to the back of the head the sent his mind into blackness.

"Winner: Itachi Uchiha."

Across the stadium, the natives of Konoha cheered, as Itachi made his way slowly to where the other genin were waiting.

"Well done 'Tachi," said Naruto with a smile clasping his friend on the back.

Itachi gave him a rare grin. "You better win, Naruto. It's time to end our tie."

"Wouldn't miss it." The two best friends eyed each other seriously for a moment before laughing.

* * *

"Second Match: Jin Miyamoto vs. Yugao Uzuki."

What occurred next was an incredibly impressive bit of kenjutsu as the two ninja's blades clashed at incredible speed, slashing and parrying and slashing again. They appeared to be equally skilled as neither was able to get an attack through the other's defense.

Knowing that continuing a sword fight was futile, Jin blocked Yugao's thrust and launched a kick to her head that she dodged and used her momentum to land a blow to his stomach.

Body flickering away to give himself some space he wove rapidly through seals, "**E****arth Style: Earth Javelin Jutsu." **A large earthen spear shot forward at incredible speed towards Yugao. She wasn't being idle however and seconds before the earth spear hit, a hastily formed water wall blocked it. She followed up her attack and sent three water bullets flying at him.

To her surprise they hit and she watched in dawning horror as the body turned out to be an earth clone. Following her instincts she raised her sword just in time to block a sword strike from behind. Twisting her leg backwards, she took his feet out from under him and landed a hard punch to his cheek. He flipped backwards and twirling his blade and combining it with earth chakra, sent it slamming into the ground, causing it to fissure and form earth spikes that shot towards her.

Unable to dodge in time she hastily summoned another water wall. At first it seemed like the wall would hold, however after a second the spikes started to pierce through it. Knowing the only way to stop the attack was to cut off the flow of chakra, she quickly spat a few more water bullets towards Jin who with his sword stuck in the ground fueling his attack, was unable to dodge and received the impact directly into his body knocking him unconscious.

Yugao's shoulders sagged in relief and exhaustion when she heard Gai call the match. "Winner: Yugao."

* * *

—In the Kage box—

"That was an entertaining match," remarked Hiruzen, smoking his pipe gently.

"It's unusual to have so many genin show such prowess wielding nature chakra. Truly a skilled bunch." Said A.

"It is the fate of the younger generation to surpass the older." Said the Hokage quite clearly lost in memories.

"They still have a lot to learn," was all Onoki would say. "The girl has exhausted most of her chakra."

"Indeed. Let us see if she is wise enough to forfeit her next match."

The third match between Iruka and Akatsuchi was over before it started. Akatsuchi was incredibly fast despite his huge size and barreled through Iruka's attacks to knock him out with a single punch.

Gai quickly called the next match. "Hana Inuzuka Vs. Karui."

* * *

Karui and Hana gave each other feral grins before launching forward, punching and kicking in a brutal series of taijutsu strikes. Hana received a punch to the face before returning with her knee to the other girl's stomach. They traded blows for several minutes as sheer stubbornness prevented them from backing away. Finally Karui reached for her sword and was about to separate Hana's head from her body when a huge dog slammed into her.

She regained her footing and watched nervously as three large ninken circled her hungrily. She raised her blade defensively and dodged a kick from Hana. The Inuzuka and her dogs attacked in tandem forcing Karui on the defensive. Performing the same move as her teammate, she swung her blade in a crescent moon shape, sending two of the Haimaru brothers flying. This seemed to enrage Hana, who launched a series of wind bullets at Karui, who managed to block them with her sword. Before she could react, however, she was hit by **a Piercing Fang** from Hana that slammed into her with the force of a freight train.

The dark skinned girl shrieked in pain as she was sent flying and her sword fell from her hands. She slowly lifted her head to get up from the crater the attack had formed around her body when she saw herself surrounded by Hana and the three dogs. Sighing in defeat she raised her hand, "I give up."

Hana looked displeased before blushing at the loud exuberant cheers she heard from her blond teammate."Go Hana-chan!" he screamed happily, much to Itachi's amusement.

"The winner is Hana Inuzuka," Gai announced.\

* * *

"As expected from a female Inuzuka. A truly brutal Match," said one of the chunin examiners.

"Neither really showed the planning or tactics need to be a chunin," said another.

"Still, it was fun to watch."

The 5th match between Samui and Tetsuka ended quickly. Not only was the blond much faster, but also her sword allowed her a longer reach than the Iwa nin's trench knives.

The boy stubbornly refused to give up however, and so Samui ended it with her sword piercing the boy's chest. There was a brief solemn moment of silence before Gai called the Last match, "Naruto Uzumaki vs. Kurotsuchi."

* * *

"Yes," crowed Naruto, body flickering into the arena. "Let's have a great match Kurotsuchi-Chan."

The raven haired girl looked surprised at his friendliness, before smirking at the younger boy. "Just try to keep up with me," she boasted. She launched forward at impressive speed and launched a kick she was sure would take Naruto out of the fight. To her surprise, not only did he dodge her kick but he also counterattacked with a punch to her face that sent her flying back before she flipped and regained her footing.

_'Such incredible speed,'_she thought, settling back into her stance. _'H__e could indeed be the son of that man.'_

Shooting forward faster and more cautiously than before, she engaged him in taijutsu. She was barely ducking his attacks and unable to get in any blows of her own. Finally she drew back for a finishing punch to the jaw, when he disappeared in front of her and attacked her with a kick from behind. She leaned into the blow and used her momentum to try and return his attack with a punch, when a set of hands grabbed her from behind and she was kicked into the nearby wall. "What was that?" she muttered, shaking the gravel out of her hair.

"Be careful Kurotsuchi-chan" said Naruto, who looked entirely content to wait for her to regain her bearings. "You should know that the shadow clone strategy, Itachi used on Omoi, was copied from me."

The girl jumped to her feet and thought quickly. '_O__k, he's far faster than I am, which means taijutsu and kenjutsu is out, if he really came up with that shadow clone strategy, it means he is really smart, and so direct physical attacks, will be ineffective, that leaves_…' Rapidly forming seals she sent several large fireballs at Naruto who merely danced around them in impressive speed. To his surprise however, there were several shuriken hidden in the balls of flame that came soaring at him. He blocked them with a kunai and was forced to dodge a kick from Kurostsuchi, who turned out to be an earth clone when he punched it.

Seeing the real Kurotsuchi forming seals to the left of him, he moved right in an attempt to hit her with a jutsu of his own. This turned out to be part of her plan, however, as from behind him several earth spikes shot towards him. Channeling wind chakra into his kunai he sliced through them, before throwing them where the attack originated. "Shadow Kunai Jutsu." The kunai multiplied into hundreds and shot towards the surprisedKurotsuchi who instead of panicking formed seals of her own, and blocked the kunai with a rock dome that covered her completely.

* * *

"Your granddaughter is very skilled, Onoki," said Hiruzen, watching the match with supreme interest.

"Yes, her strategies are very good as well as her use of her techniques," said the Riakage, his eyes fixed on a certain blonde. It couldn't be could it?

Onoki was watching Naruto as well, his mind flashing to another supremely talented blond. "Yes, she is extremely skilled, I trained her myself," he said finally. "However, it seems Sarutobi has been keeping secrets about his young prodigy there."

"Oh?" said Hiruzen feigning surprise. "What makes you say that?"

"Do you think us fools, you old monkey," snorted Onoki. "How many blond, blue-eyed ninja do you have in Konoha? Truly I did not know 'til now that that cursed Namikaze had had a son."

"So it's true," breathed A, "Minato had a son."

Realizing the futility of denying it, Sarutobi merely smiled. "Indeed. Naruto-kun is the son of our greatest Hokage, and well on his way to becoming a legend in his own right."

The other two Kage said nothing, as they thought quickly and watched the rest of the fight.

* * *

Realizing he didn't have a technique that could pierce through the rock dome, Naruto merely summoned a few shadow clones and together they breathed fire on the dome, quickly heating it to incredible temperatures. Kurotsuchi cursed as she felt the dome become an oven. _'I have to get out of here quickly or I'll suffocate.'_Gathering chakra she disappeared into the ground and made her way underground. She popped up behind one of the blonds and finished him with a knee to the groin. The blond turned out to be a shadow clone and she followed the outraged whimper of one of the blonds and was on him in a flash. Attacking relentlessly to prevent him from counterattacking, and instantly dispelling the genjutsu he placed around her. She landed a very satisfying punch to his stomach before, receiving a kick to the back of her leg by a shadow clone .

In a cry of pain she fell to her knees, stunning the boy when she didn't move.

He edged forward cautiously. "Are you ok,Kuro-chan?" When the girl didn't acknowledge him, Naruto panicked and bent down to check her pulse. What he received for his chivalry was a head butt to the face. Kurotsuchi's smug look of satisfaction was interrupted when she was kicked in the air, and felt dozens of punches impact her body. Her mind blurred in pain and she fell stunned to the ground.

To her horror, however, she realized that she was falling towards one of the earth spears she had created earlier, and it was poised to pierce into her stomach. She mentally cursed and tried without success to move her stunned body. She closed her eyes and braced for pain when suddenly she felt herself in someone's arms. Blinking, she looked up, expecting to see the stern eyes of her grandfather. Instead she saw the mischievous baby blues of her blond opponent. She blushed at the intensity of the concern in his eyes.

"You ok,Kuro-chan?" he asked softly. She blushed again before finally saying, "Yes…Naruto-kun." And passing out.

"The winner by knock out: Naruto Uzumaki."

Hiruzen looked smug as Gai announced the winner.

"The boy was holding back," said A intently. "Just how strong is he?"

Onoki looked furious, as the medic-nin carted his granddaughter off the field. _'I must take care of this brat before he grows even stronger,'_he thought.

Suddenly an intense pressure filled the room and both Kage turned to Hiruzen who had a dangerous smile on his face. They were suddenly reminded of why he was considered the god of shinobi and the strongest living Kage. He said no words but they both knew that they had just received a warning.

"Since Yugao has deigned to forfeit due to lack of chakra, Itachi heads into the semi-finals. The Next match will be Hana Inuzuka vs. Akatsuchi, let their flames of youth explode."

* * *

As soon as the match began, Hana launched a Piercing Fang, hoping to take out her opponent quickly, this failed as the Iwa-nin's impressive speed allowed him to dodge and send a Haymaker to her face. The blow was incredibly strong and the pretty Inuzuka screamed in pain. Akatsuchi shot forward again only to be attacked in tandem by the Haimaru brothers who managed to sink their teeth into the boy's side. Forming hand signs, the big boned boy launched a pair of golems that sent the dogs flying.

Hana had managed to regain her feet and launched several water bullets at him. He dodged the attack nimbly, and punched her again, sending her flying. Groaning, Hana quickly ate a soldier pill and as her chakra levels shot through the roof, she tossed one to her nearest ninken. **F****orming the Four Legs technique**, Han's features turned even more feral, and she launched a spinning fang attack that slammed into Akatsuchi and sent him flying.

Capitalizing on his weakness she and her ninken spun in tandem, forming an even stronger attack that shred the boulders in their way as they attacked the fat Iwa nin again. Akatsuchi quickly formed a golem to protect him from the attack, but to his surprise, the enhanced technique shredded it like butter and he was knocked unconscious. Hana panted for a moment herself, before passing out as well, having pushed her body to its limits. When neither opponent moved, Gai was forced to call it a draw.

"Next match: Naruto vs. Samui."

* * *

Samui, watched the boy hesitantly. Truthfully she didn't think she had much of a chance. Naruto's speed was much greater than hers, which means her skill with taijutsu and kenjutsu would be mostly ineffective. She did know some powerful lighting jutsu, but truthfully she hadn't mastered them yet.

_'I suppose the only thing to do is to attack and see what happens'_she thought before throwing a bunch of throwing knives at the blonde and moving in to attack him sword raised high. The blond blurred in speed and grabbing her sword hand, he wrenched it from her hands and in a brutal flurry of punches and kicks, knocked her on her back.

"Sorry Samui-chan, but I can't hold back here, I must save my strength for Itachi." She looked furious at being overlooked like this but before she could jump up and attack him, she found herself surrounded by sword wielding clones."Please give up," he whispered. Gritting her teeth in fury at her own weakness, she nodded and conceded.

"Winner Naruto Uzumaki."

* * *

A looked a bit put out at the speed in which Samui had lost before laughing heartily. "He takes after his father. That's something Minato would have done." Hiruzen Laughed but Onoki looked pensive.

"The Uzumaki have long been the closest allies of the Senju clan. To think then that history would repeat itself, and the genius of the Uchiha clan would face the champion of the Senju."

Meanwhile in the stands, Sasuke looked surprised at the somber expressions on his parents' faces. His mother looked both proud and worried as her firstborn and best student faced off. Fugaku remembered his own rivalry with Minato and the way he had been defeated every time.

"The final match: Itachi Uchiha vs. Naruto Uzumaki."

* * *

"You ready 'Tachi," said Naruto easing into his stance.

"Always." Without another word the two young geniuses shot forward and attacked each other fiercely, punches were blocked and kicks were countered as the two moved in increasing speed until they were nearly a blur to the inexperienced members of the crowd. Naruto's attempt to stab Itachi with a kunai was countered by a kick and a series of shuriken, that were batted away by a burst of wind from Naruto. They moved through hand signs at insane speeds and a ball of fire from Naruto clashed with a water ball from Itachi. Naruto landed a knee to the Uchiha's stomach only to receive a punch to the face for his trouble, they both drew their blades instantly and clashed in a deadly storm of sword fighting, blades crashing against each other as the both attempted to overpower the other.

Itachi's sharigan predicted an attack from behind and without turning flipped and dispelled the sneaky clone creeping up behind him and counter attacking with a few spikes of earth that Naruto quickly dodged and used as a springboard to knee Itachi in the face before spinning and landing a kick to the chest, sending the sharigan user flying back several feet. 'Tachi regained his footing quickly and once again their blades clashed with incredible speed. Blade of wind circled Naruto's blades and attempted to cut through Itachi's, which surged with the two charkas mixed it caused an explosion that sent the two warriors skidding back.

"Shuriken ShadowClone Jutsu," called Naruto, sending hundreds of shuriken at Itachi who countered with a Shuriken Shadow Clone of his own and blocked the attack before leaning in to punch Naruto across the face, the two traded hard blows for a moment before flipping back and assessing each other.

Without words, a spear of fire surged at Itachi who blocked it with a water wall.

They clashed again in a flurry of punches and kicks before once again weaving rapidly through seals, sending a dragon of fire and water crashing at each other. As the two chakra constructs clashed, Naruto launched a series of wind laced kunai at Itachi who formed the same earth dome that Kurotsuchi used earlier to deflect the attack.

"Wind Style: Windstorm," called Naruto, who used the twisting wind to send Itachi slamming into the wall with small cuts appearing all over his body. "Dragon Flame," said Itachi, shooting a small dragon of fire into the eyes of the miniature tornado Naruto created and causing an explosion that left both combatants dazed and a huge crater in the middle of the ring.

"This is not the fight of two genin," whispered the shocked examiners. "It isn't even a battle of chunin- that's jounin level fighting going on down there."

His stunned comrades merely nodded as the stared dumbstruck at the intense battle before them.

'_T__his is incredible,'_thought Mikoto, as the two genin clashed. '_T__o think that both my son and pupil are now stronger than me.'_

Fugaku didn't know whether to be proud or afraid of the progress his son had made._'T__ruly the blood of the strongest Uchiha runs in your veins my son.'_

In the Hokage box, the three Kage were keenly impressed themselves.

"Look at them go, such speed and intensity, far beyond what I was capable of at their age," muttered A.

"I had not realized they had come so far," admitted Hiruzen, whose pride could not be hidden. "Truly the will of fire burns hotter than ever. These young leaves will fuel the flames, and perhaps from one of them a successor will be found."

Onoki merely plotted, searching his mind for a way to take these kids out before they grew into their potential.

* * *

"You've improved quite a bit since we last fought," remarked Naruto staring at the huge crater they had created. "A few months ago, this would have drained you of most of your chakra. But now I sense you have plenty in reserve."

"I spent this month training my speed and stamina. It was necessary to keep up with you."

"Well, shall we kick it up a notch?" asked the blond, going through some exaggerated stretching.

"Indeed…" With a burst of chakra both genin shot forward at speeds even faster than before, punching and kick with such ferocity that if it wasn't for the smiles on their faces one would think they hated each other. A series of water and fire jutsu clashed against each other as both summoned attacks to strike and counter their opponent's moves.

Fireballs met walls of water, while earth spears and clones were cut apart with blades of wind. Finally, Itachi managed to slash Naruto with his kunai, only to get blown back when the clone exploded.

Naruto's surprise attack on the stunned Itachi, proved futile, as it turned out he was an exploding clone as well. Itachi moved in quickly and with a yell of triumph clocked Naruto in the face with a vicious punch. Refusing to let up, he launched a flurry of punches into the blond's stomach, and moved to end the match with a kunai to the throat.

However Naruto refused to give up, and with a desperate head butt slammed his head into Itachi's face. The blow rattled both of the boys' brains, and sent them both into exhausted unconsciousness. The crowd looked stunned for a few minutes, before they erupting in huge cheers at the incredible fight they had just seen.

Gai cleared his throat. "Yosh! These two boys' flames of youth is truly inspiring. If I cannot match it I will do 5000 laps around the village on my hands. However since, neither of them is in any condition to fight, I hereby declare this match a draw."

* * *

-Three days later-

Naruto shuffled from foot to foot as he awaited the arrival of the Hokage. He and his fellow chunin exam contestants waited with bated breath to see who would be promoted. Finally the old man arrived, his fellow Kage by his side. "I am very pleased at the level of ability you genin have shown in this exam. You have represented your villages well and are a sure sign of the bright future that lies before us. Those who have been promoted to chunin are as follows: Haku of Kiri, Kurostuchi of Iwa, Yugao Uzuki of Konoha, Itachi Uchiha also of Konoha, and Naruto Uzumaki."

As soon as he heard his name, Naruto let out a whoop of joy and quickly hugged the two closest people to him, which turned out to be Haku and Kurotsuchi. The two girls blushed. _'Chunin,'_ he thought._' I'm on my way.'_

_A.N. whew this was a big chapter. I was lucky to get it in so early._

_I can't wait to start the next chapter. Which will feature Itachi and Naruto's growing friendship as they undertake more challenging missions as chunin._

_Til next time. Millennion_


	6. Chapter 6

Many thanks to all the people who reviewed and added me to their favorites. You make it really easy to buckle down and write more.

* * *

Naruto silently moved through the forests of Grass Country, as he quickly followed his team. They were on an A-ranked mission to wipe out the camps of a group of bandits that were raiding merchant caravans in the area. There were rumored to be a few shinobi among the upper levels of the group leaders, and the leader was rumored to be Izumi Togashira, an A-ranked missing-nin from Ame. Reaching the copse of trees near the entrance to what their intel said was the main camp, Naruto skidded to a stop. To his left Itachi appeared in a swirl of leaves, followed closely by their female teammate Yugao.

It had been 6 months since their impressive showing at the chunin exams, and their names were already reverberating throughout the shinobi world. To their great amusement, they ended up in the bingo books of both Kumo and Iwa.

_**Naruto Uzumaki**: B-ranked chunin of Konoha_

_Rumored to be the son of the fourth Hokage._

_His list of known jutsu is small, but it should be noted that he is highly intelligent and skilled in taijutsu._

_Bounty: 600,000 ryo Dead or Alive_

_**Itachi Uchiha**: B- ranked chunin of Konoha and member of the Uchiha clan_

_Highly skilled in ninjutsu and taijutsu_

_Bounty: 300,000 ryo Alive_

Naruto teased Itachi every chance he got about his higher bounty, but was secretly pleased with his friend's calming presence when the news of his parentage reached the civilian population. Things were a bit chaotic at first and a month later he suffered the worst thing a prodigy ninja can endure: fan girls.

Luckily for him he wasn't in the village much, as with his impressive showing at the Chunin Exams. he received countless mission requests asking for his services. Being a chunin meant he was able to take B-ranked missions by himself, as well as take on some of the weaker A-ranks if he was with a team.

Itachi was made his partner and Yugao swiftly joined them. Together they quickly broke the record for the most successful missions by a rookie chunin team. Their teamwork was flawless and no one harmed a member of their team without receiving a swift kunai across their throat. Yugao became like a surrogate sister to Naruto, as she teased him constantly about his fan girls' pursuits of him and refused to let him go on missions in his usual orange. He and Itachi grew even closer, and were like brothers in everything but blood, and it was Naruto's great pleasure to tease him about the glances he sent his female teammate when the girl wasn't looking. They trusted each other and it made them strong.

* * *

"So what's the plan, Naruto?" asked Itachi, taking his customary position at his friend's right side.

"Send in Yugao, while you munch on pocky and I eat ramen?"

His friend smirked, "Sounds like a plan to me"

"You guys are asses," said their exasperated teammate, who was trying and failing to repress a laugh.

"Well I say we form shadow clones and launch exploding tags into the center of the camp. we should layer a few confusion genjutsu to add to the chaos and make them think their comrades are the ones attacking them. If all goes according to plan, most of them will either die in the explosion or kill each other in the resulting confusion and we simply mop up any stragglers and deal with any shinobi we find."

At 8 pm they struck, and the drunken members of the bandit camp looked on in shocked horror as hundreds of kunai descended from the camp and exploded. Dozens were killed in the resulting explosions and the camp was set ablaze.

To add further to the confusion, some of their friends began attacking the fleeing survivors, screams and curses echoed through the camp as blades of all sorts carved through flesh.

All one drunken guard saw was a shadow as his life was snuffed out with a shuriken to the forehead.

The three Chunin made their way through the camp, killing anyone who attempted to escape or was unaffected by the genjutsu. Finally after several minutes, a giant fireball headed towards them and they quickly split up, blocking the flurry of shuriken that were launched at them from all sides with their kunai.

Several of the bandits had gathered around them and settled into sloppy fighting stances. They were shinobi. Trained, genin by the looks of it. They looked furious at the carnage the Konoha ninja had caused and angrily palmed their kunai. Grinning, Naruto merely pointed behind them. They turned to see the beautiful green eyes of Yugao as she cut her way through them, until only one remained. He backed up in horror at the drops of blood dripping off her sword, and thus didn't see the shadow of Itachi, who appeared behind him and ended his existence with a throwing dagger to the head.

"That's all of the cannon fodder," said Naruto, placing his finger on the ground. "However, there are three fairly high chakra signatures ahead and one really strong one. Probably Izumi." As was customary before a big fight, Naruto and Itachi assumed their preferred stance."Rock. Paper. Scissors." Naruto pulled rock and to his glee, Itachi used Scissors. "I win. Izumi is mine."

"I swear you cheat," muttered the Uchiha genius .

"Ah stop whining," responded the blond before shooting towards the waiting enemies with impressive speed.

"I'm so kicking your ass next time we spar," said Itachi before speeding away as well.

Yugao looked plainly exasperated by her teammates' antics before finally sighing in pure feminine consternation. "Why me?" She mumbled before following her battle hungry teammates.

Their enemies were gathered by a huge fire and a large expensive looking tent.

Their chakra levels were fairly strong, high chunin level at least and they didn't look the least bit scared at the three chunins' appearance. There were four men; three were wearing the standard chunin vest of Ame, while one wore a large tiger skin and expensive jewels. He was fairly short with brown hair and according to his bingo book entry was especially good at water ninjutsu. Itachi Immediately took the two on the left, engaging them in taijutsu, while Yugao took the one on the right her sword swinging to clash with his hastily drawn kunai.

Naruto merely took a deep breath and smiled petulantly at his opponent. _'You ready for this Kurama?'_ he thought to the fox _'I may need some of your chakra.'_

_"**It's yours, Brat,"**_ mumbled the fox sleepily, **_'just slaughter this arrogant human.'_**

Naruto attacked with incredible speed taking Izumi by surprise and landing a powerful punch to the missing ninja's jaw, and following it up with a kick that his enemy dodged.

"You're quick, brat" he yelled, "but that is not enough to stop me." Izumi attacked Naruto with all the ferocity of an angry cat, his powerful attacks barely missing the speedy genin. "Water Style: Water Dragon," summoned the Ame-nin. A huge serpentine dragon made of water suddenly launched towards Naruto, who, with a grin dispelled it with a mud wall that split the attack in two, careening in separate directions.

It was clear to Naruto after this brief exchange that while he was certainly much faster than his opponent, the brunet's attacks were insanely powerful.

Once again dodging an angry blow to the head, he kicked the footing of his opponent and once again engaged him in a torrent of incredibly fast taijutsu.

* * *

Meanwhile, Itachi was dodging the two chunin, with bored ease. He had not even activated his sharigan and yet he was running circles around these guys.

It appeared that all that high-speed combat training with Naruto was paying off. Incredibly bored with this fight, he waited for one of them to attack him again, before ending his life with a kunai to the throat and simultaneously catching his second foe in an incredibly powerful genjutsu that made him slit his own throat and scream at the terrors it caused. Man, sometimes Naruto had all the fun.

* * *

Yugao was having similar ease with her opponent. His attacks while strong were easily predictable and it was easy to tell that whatever training he had undergone before he left his home village, he had not kept up with it. After another sloppy barrage with a brace of kunai, Yugao had had enough and formed a shadow clone that snuck up behind him and slit his throat from behind. Incredibly bored she joined up with Itachi, and catching his small blush when she appeared so close to him, she smiled and watched her final teammate fight.

* * *

Naruto's battle with Izumi had grown in intensity and he was enjoying himself immensely. Izumi fought like a raging bull, powerful strikes and crushing water jutsu.

However this was all for naught as Naruto's speed allowed him to keep one-step ahead of every move his opponent made. Noticing that his teammates were done with their battles he decided to end it. Drawing his sword he began channeling the wind chakra into his blade and with burst of speed appeared behind Izumi and launched his attack.

"Wind Blade Whirlwind." His blade arced in incredible speed making countless slashes that cleaved through Izumi like a knife through butter. Izumi was too slow to defend against it and literally fell to pieces.

"Pathetic," Naruto muttered, eyeing the corpse with distaste. "He clearly let himself go."

* * *

The journey back to Konoha was quick and after a debriefing by the person in charge of the mission office, they received their pay before meeting at their training ground. Where recently promoted chunin, Jin, Anko, and Hana were waiting. They had joined as a team for the next chunin exam that occurred in Suna and passed it with flying colors.

Now they joined Naruto's team for spars on occasion. "Best two out of three?" he asked as the six leapt into battle.

* * *

-6 months later.-

Naruto's team continued to go on many different missions over the last 6 months while steadily increasing their training. Their teamwork was perfect, and their skills in all aspects of the ninja arts had improved dramatically. Yugao mastered her secondary affinity of earth while Itachi had found and signed the summoning contract with the crows. He incorporated it into several new jutsu that left Naruto cursing during their spars.

Meanwhile Naruto had increased his knowledge of the sealing arts until finally, after over three years of training, he considered himself adept enough to experiment with Kurama's seal. He found that the seal drained a large amount of the beast's chakra and mixed it with his own, which was the reason the fox slept so much. Much to Naruto's joy, Itachi had finally worked up the courage to ask Yugao out on a date. The two were now dating and had to suffer their teammate's constant teasing whenever they showed up for training looking a bit ruffled.

The two had decided after a year as chunin to enter the Anbu ranks together. Eager to stay with the teammates who had become his new family, Naruto was about to join as well when Itachi stopped him.

"A spirit such as yours belongs in the light," he said softly, staring solemnly at the Hokage monument. "The will of fire burns brightly in you, and you have an incredible destiny before you." Turning to his friend, his brother, Itachi clasped the blond's hand.

"Protect the village in the light Naruto, while I watch over it from the shadows." Naruto looked into his best friend's eyes and nodded. "I promise."

From that day Naruto's new goal was clear: He would become Hokage and protect the village he loved.

A few weeks later Yugao and Itachi left for the secretive Anbu training where they would remain for the next 6 months. Naruto instantly went before the Hokage and filled out the forms to request a 1-year training trip. Tweaking the seal to attempt to control more of the Kyuubi's power would be dangerous and, thus, better attempted outside the village. The Hokage approved it and a few days later, Naruto found himself on the outskirts of Water Country. _'Time to get to work.'_

* * *

He set up in a clearing next to a large lake in one of Water Country's many mountains. With the Kyuubi's support, he was able to master the first 4 tails within 2 months. His many years of training and meditation as well as Kurama's assistance made the task easier. He found, however, that using such chakra was incredibly difficult as the sheer potency of it overloaded his jutsu, making them useless. It did drastically increase his speed and strength and his experimentation with the tailed beast ball left him astonished at the power now at his command. Still the strain of focusing to control his mind and the lack of ability in using his arsenal of techniques made it a double-edged sword at best.

Kurama promised him, however, that utilizing his full 9 tailed chakra cloak, would be very different and allow him the full utility of his powers. To this end he tweaked the seal, creating a sort of key that altered the inner workings of the seal. It was then that he made a surprising discovery in his mindscape.

He had entered to remove the seal holding Kurama. However, when he moved to rip it off a hand grasped his arm. To his supreme shock, his father, the Yondaime Hokage stood before him. "Hey son." he whispered.

It turned out that the Yondaime had placed some of his chakra into the seal, to act as a secondary line of protection if anyone tried to remove the seal. He was slightly bewildered at first at the strange friendship his son shared with the demon until Naruto explained his tale of meeting the fox.

"Wow, I never actually considered what it was like for the fox to be trapped in a human vessel all these years." Turning towards the fox, he bowed, "my apologies Kurama-san."

"Do you know a way to free me from the seal?" questioned the fox.

Naruto could have sworn Minato blushed. "No. To be honest, sealing was more Kushina's specialty than mine, I sealed some of her chakra in here as well but it won't awaken until you are ready to tame the full power of the fox."

"Then let's do it now, I have a promise to keep."

"I'm afraid that would be a bad idea, as strong as you are, your body is still too small and weak to handle the full force of the fox's power, quite frankly it'd blow you apart. You'll have to wait a few years I'm afraid."

Both Kurama and Naruto looked disappointed, before finally nodding. At least they had a game plan. "Now how much do you know about the night, Kurama attacked?" He quickly explained about Madara attacking and the battle that ensued. "I'm not a hundred percent certain that was Madara though," he finished.

"Why do you say that?"

"I don't know but something about the way he moved. Seemed familiar."

"Who do you think it could be?"

"I'm not sure, but one thing is for certain, my son. You will certainly see him again,So you will have to be ready."

"Is there anything you can do to help me?" asked Naruto, still a bit dazed from meeting his father for the first time.

"Well I can show you my two signature jutsu. That should give you an edge in the dangerous times to come. However my chakra is fading fairly quickly, so I won't have time to fully train you in them. Luckily, the Rasengan is a simple process and quick to explain, however Hirashin is complicated and I'll only be able to give you the basics, you'll have to work out the rest yourself." Naruto hurriedly agreed.

"But remember, son, that the power of Konoha's Yellow Flash was not enough to completely defeat Madara and change the shinobi world. If you want to win, it will take more than merely mastering my techniques."

"I'm ready."

After spending hours explaining the process on how to learn the Rasengan and teaching him the seals necessary to use and create Hirashin Kunai, Minato disappeared, wishing his son the best.

Naruto spent the next two weeks learning the Rasengan and practicing drawing the Hirashin seals. He'd have to wait 'til he got back to Konoha to have one of his father's infamous tri-pronged kunai made.

Since he still had nearly 10 months left and all of his training plans had been either completed or delayed, Naruto decided to spend the rest of his time wandering and fighting strong foes. He spent the next month wandering through Lightning Country, fighting the occasional missing nin or picking up the odd bounty, when he found himself deep into Water Country. _'Now which way to Kiri.'_ he wondered.

_A.N. My story is now over 20,000 words, a new feat for me. Yes naruto will eventually learn how to use Hirashin, it sucks that the Hokage body guards can use it and he can't._

_Like Minato said, having such a jutsu is not enough to truly defeat the likes of Madara._

_Next chapter:Naruto meets a beautiful woman, and finds himself immersed into the darkest aspects of the shinobi world._

_'Til then: Millennion._

_P.S. The ages are as follows_

_Naruto 09_

_Itachi 12_

_Yugao 14._


	7. Chapter 7

'_Water Country is an unusual place,'_ Naruto thought, as he made his way down the long pebbled path leading towards Kiri. Aptly named, the tree filled area leading up to the hidden village was surrounded by a thick layer of mist, obscuring even Naruto's heightened eyesight.

He was going at civilian speed, and using chakra control to hide his chakra presence._'No need to draw more attention than I have to,'_ he had thought to himself as he got closer to the village. As if the irony gods had heard him, a shrill scream leapt through the air and before he could stop himself, he had already vanished at full speed towards the sound.

Landing on a nearby tree branch, he saw a familiar looking girl being cornered by several shinobi wearing the crest of the Mist. They wore the standard gray flak jackets of Mist jonin and moved cautiously towards their opponent as if she was a ravenous beast that could strike them at any time.

The woman was obviously a kunoichi, considering her chakra levels and the look of sheer defiance on her face. She was young, probably fourteen or so and had raven black hair and beautiful black eyes. She looked exhausted and from the marks and rips on her clothes, she had obviously recently been in a fight.

"We got you now, freak" said one of the Mist-nin, palming a kunai dangerously.

"By order of the Mizukage, you and all those other bloodline wielding freaks are to be killed immediately and without prejudice." Glancing down at her, he grinned perversely. "However, there's no reason for us not to have a little fun with you before you die."

With equally ominous grins his teammates laughed. The girl looked horrified before launching several ice senbon at them, which the men batted away easily with their kunai. She leapt forward and punched one of the men in the face,, before the heavy fist of one of the others sent her crashing back into the tree.

When she let out a low moan of pain, Naruto had had enough and summoning his tanto into his hand silently jumped down and stabbed one of the men in the back, and before the others could respond he threw a throwing knife that sunk into a second one's throat. in one continuous motion,he removed the blade from the ninja he impaled and slid across the throat of the final man, whose eyes were still open in shock.

The whole altercation took last than 30 seconds and by the time the woman, who had shut her eyes in anticipation of what was to come, opened them again, Naruto was wiping his bloody sword on the grass. She blinked for a minute, and then lightly pinched herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming or caught in a genjutsu, before launching herself into his arms, sobbing loudly.

Having never dealt with a crying woman before, Naruto was understandably a bit taken back, and awkwardly patted her shoulder. "It's okay now," he whispered. "You're safe."

After a few minutes, the sobs stopped and the girl finally looked into his face."Naruto-kun?" she said in surprise. Equally surprised at having been recognized, the blond studied her face for a minute before it dawned on him…

"Haku-chan?" He said excitedly, pulling the now blushing girl into a hug. "How have you been? It's been ages since the chunin exam." The girl had certainly grown since then, gaining a few inches in height and putting on curves in all the right places. She wore a chunin vest that was ripped and torn and a gray set of leggings.

"Things have been hard, Naruto-kun," she said finally, assessing the young blond herself.

"What happened, who were those guys?" The kunochi steeled herself for a moment before explaining. "Those were members of the Mizukage's newly formed anti-bloodline division. Their job is to seek out and kill any bloodline user, regardless of loyalty to the village. For some reason about a year ago, the Mizukage suddenly declared that people with bloodlines were evilsand prone to treachery, and so he ordered the clans to be killed."

"Some of them like the Kaguya clan fought back and were slaughtered. Since then, Kiri has been in a state of civil war. The clans and those who dislike the Mizukage's policies are fighting for their right to live. Zabuza-sama and myself have joined the rebels, however things aren't going well. These guys caught up to me after I'd just escaped from a small battle with the anbu. I don't want to think about what they would have done, if you hadn't saved me. Thank you."

"It's no problem" he replied. "I was on my way to visit the village but it sounds like that would be a bad idea now. What will you do?"

"The rebels are lead by a former Mist jonin called Mei Terumi, whose group has a base near the northern parts of Water Country. Zabuza-sama was going to rendezvous with her, so I'll head there."

"I'll go with you then." He said firmly, when Haku started to protest. "You're my friend, Haku, and I refuse to let you go alone." Seeing she understood he helped her up. "Lead the way."

* * *

It took over a day for them to reach the rocky cliffs overlooking the base. It stood next to the shoreline, surrounded by a sandy beach. It was cylindrical in shape and looked more like an old lighthouse than a shinobi base.

Haku wanted to go through the front, but while he trusted the kunochi, Naruto didn't want to be discovered by the rebels until he had gotten some more information; so the two snuck their way passed the guards, and Naruto made a mental note to suggest better training to their commander. A half an hour later they reached the top where the leader's office was, and they were about to enter when a booming voice reverberated outside.

"These guerilla tactics are getting us nowhere," a deep male voice shouted. "Let us take the fight directly to Yagura, and I'll chop off his head with my own blade."

"Zabuza that is foolish," said a soft female voice that was lyrical yet full of authority. "Yagura is a jinchuriki, and far too powerful for you to defeat."

"Perhaps alone. But with your help and Haku's, it can be done."

"It is a foolish risk. If we fail the rebellion will be crushed. Who will lead it if not for you, me and Ao?"

"I've had enough talking. When Haku returns, I will gather all those brave enough to follow and we will attack Yagura Immediately." Whatever the woman was about to respond with was interrupted as Naruto angrily kicked through the door.

"You're a complete idiot," yelled the boy at the giant man, completely oblivious to Haku's embarrassed blush and the surprised yet interested look on the room's other female occupant.

Even Zabuza looked stunned. "Who the hell are you brat, and how did you get in here?"

"Never mind that… What's this I hear about you wanting to take Haku-chan on a suicide mission?" Haku tried unsuccessfully to hide in a corner… "Naruto-kun…. maybe we should let Zabuza-sama, explain, I'm sure he has a plan."

"Fine, Haku-chan but if I'm not satisfied, I'm kicking your ass myself Zabuza-teme."

The muffled sound of feminine laughter echoed through the room and Naruto finally turned his attention towards the rooms other occupant. She was a gorgeous woman with bright red hair and piercing green eyes, she wore a dark blue dress that fit nicely around her impressive bust. She was also incredibly strong if her chakra levels were any indicator. "My. What an impressive boy. What is your name?"

"Naruto Uzumaki," said the blond,"and yours?"

"Mei Terumi." she said looking entirely too amused. "And you have quite the reputation for one so young, not even a teenager yet and already in the bingo book."

"What can I say? I eat plenty of ramen." Bowing slightly he turned back towards Zabuza, "Explain yourself no-brows."

The swordsman looked incensed at the repeated disrespect by the blond and in a single movement swung the giant sword sitting next to him and attempted to cleave the annoying brat in two. Haku was about to scream in horror, when Naruto suddenly disappeared, and in a burst of speed appeared behind the swordsman and held a kunai to his neck. "That's not very nice No-brows-san." He said softly, digging the blade into the man's throat and causing a thin drop of blood to run down the black steel.

"Now explain why you were going to take Haku-chan on a suicide mission, or else I'll see about making you a whole head shorter." Zabuza just glared at him stubbornly and refused to talk, not making a sound even when the boy's blade dug deeper into his skin.

"Please stop Naruto-kun," begged Haku. "I am Zabuza-sama's tool; I will go wherever he pleases, to my death if he requires it."

At her words Naruto looked even angrier, before finally acquiescing and removing the kunai, but not before launching a powerful punch into the man's face.

"Bastard," he muttered, resuming his place next to Haku, who didn't know whether to be upset Zabuza was hurt, or pleased the blond seemed to care so much about her.

"So what is a Konoha ninja doing in the hidden mist village?" asked Mei, her tone suddenly serious.

"I was just gonna sneak in and explore the village when I spotted Haku-chan being accosted by some bloodline-hunters. After I dealt with them, she wanted to return here, so I escorted her."

"I see. And what will you do now, will you help us in our endeavors to remove the bloodthirsty Yagura, or will you simply leave us to our fates?"

Naruto looked torn for a minute before glancing at Haku, who was gazing at him hopefully_.'Jiji is going to kill me,'_he thought, before turning to Mei. "Until Haku-chan can feel safe in her own Village, I, Naruto Uzumaki promise to lend my strength and help you."

* * *

Naruto had thought he was well prepared for the dark side of shinobi nature. After all, he had been a shinobi for 4 years now and had killed his share of men. He was wrong. Nothing he had ever endured compared to the sheer carnage of war. A few days after meeting Mei and agreeing to help, he found himself with Haku and a platoon of rebel ninja. Their goal was to attack a garrison which was the home base of the bloodline hunters. It turned out to be an ambush and before Naruto could react, half of his squad mates were dead. Fighting back to back with Haku, he managed to carve a bloody swathe through the attacking ninja and together they and what remained of the squad was able to escape.

What would follow in the next 6 months was battle after battle, and he quickly grew used to the smell of death and the feeling of watching his comrades die. He quickly made a name for himself among the rebels for his exploits during battle, his insane speed coupled with his skill genjutsu, meant that he was little more than a mirage at times on the battlefield as he cut through one ninja after another. It became so common, as a matter of fact, that that was the nickname the bloodline hunters called him. The Red Mirage, and to his great joy,they placed him in the bingo book as an A-ranked threat to approach with caution. To his fellow rebels he was a hero, as he had single-handedly saved more wounded shinobi than anyone else by sending his shadow clones to remove them from the battlefield.

The training of a guerilla fighter was hard, and he found himself growing in strength even more rapidly than before as he faced ninja with all types of abilities.

Eager to see the full extent of his strength, Mei had him spar against one of her most loyal lieutenants, a man named Ao. Both were masters of lightning fast combat and highly skilled with ninjutsu, however a genjutsu and a well hidden shadow clone lead to Naruto being declared the victor. It turned out that Ao was an expert sensor and was quite happy to help Naruto train further in those abilities.

In no time at all Naruto's sensor range had doubled and he was able to tell the size and strength of any ninja in a 50-meter radius. He had always been good with a sword, but facing expert swordsman like those in the mist, had his skill with a blade increasing as well. He also learned a few water jutsu to supplement his ninjutsu arsenal. His friendship with Haku deepened and he often found himself having long chats into the night with the softhearted girl. He did noticed however that sometimes she would get sick when he was around and her face would turn really red and she'd have trouble breathing. He briefly thought she was somehow allergic to him, and voiced his concerns to Mei who amusedly told him, that he had nothing to worry about.

Speaking of the red head, the two had formed a fast friendship despite their varying ages. She appreciated his skill and his sheer openness with his feelings, while he admired her strength and ability to lead. They talked often and she took great pleasure in teasing him whenever possible by remarking on what a "big boy" he would be some day.

They also sparred every now and then, and for the first time since meeting Mikoto-sensei all those years ago, he knew what it was like to be completely outclassed, as she batted him around like a ping pong ball, or burned him with her lava release. Getting beat was good for him however and he threw himself into his training with increased fervor, determined to catch up to the red-headed beauty by overcoming the large gap between A and S ranked Shinobi. He and Zabuza never got along, but for Haku's sake they luckily never came to blows over it.

Finally after 6 months of being involved in the civil war, Mei summoned her war council that consisted of Naruto, Zabuza, and Ao.

* * *

"I've received information from one of our informants that Yagura has disappeared from the village. This is an excellent opportunity for us to eliminate the rest of the radicals and seize control of the village."

"It could be a trap," said Naruto, who nonetheless looked intrigued at the prospect of ending the war.

"Impossible, Mangetsu is a member of the seven swordsmen and is a long time ally," said Ao.

"Speaking of Yagura, I've been meaning to ask, do any of you know what made him decree out of the blue that he wanted the blood-line users destroyed?" asked Naruto.

Ao looked hesitantly at Mei, who nodded. "Actually we suspect he is somehow being controlled, Yagura was always a kind and dedicated leader, for him to suddenly change like this cannot be natural."

"Humph…what technique could control a Kage?" muttered Zabuza angrily. "Especially one who is a jinchuriki in complete control of his beast."

'_A jinchuriki,_' thought Naruto. _'Kurama, do you think it's him?'_

**'It is likely. I know of no other person living who could control Isobu, besides that man.'**

_'What do we do if we encounter him?' _he asked.

'**As much as I hate to admit it, we should flee. You are not yet strong enough to face that man.'**

"So it's decided then," said Mei, breaking Naruto out of his private conversation.

"We move out at dawn." Naruto groaned. He had a bad feeling about this.

* * *

The Mist village was nothing like Konoha. It was tinted a light gray and filled with cylindrical building and the ever present thick mist. Naruto moved quickly to follow Mei, who led them to a secret sewer tunnel that came out near the heart of the village where the Mizukage's office was located. Everything went well at first, so well in fact that for a moment Naruto thought his suspicions to be mere paranoia. Until they got into the tower and were ambushed by hidden anbu.

"Such a stupidly obvious trap," mumbled the blond as he stabbed an anbu in the chest.

"Stop complaining, Naruto-kun," admonished Haku, who was launching throwing knives at break neck speeds.

To their left Zabuza was cleaving through one unfortunate anbu after another, while Mei boiled five poor ninja alive at once with her kekkai genkai.

They were making short work of the anbu, when a small figure appeared out of the shadows.

At first glance he appeared to be a child no older than Naruto himself, and yet the cold look in his eyes and the gasps of fear from his fellow rebels told him otherwise.

Yagura, the fourth Mizukage, had arrived. He carried a large staff with a big gray hook on it and in a burst of speed; he sliced through a group of rebels.

"You come to your deaths," he said solemnly, expertly twirling the staff." We true Ninja of the Mist do not suffer rebellion will be crushed "

Mei quickly moved to engage him, shooting blobs of lava to catch his attention.

Naruto was about to join in as well when a huge blade suddenly headed for his head. Summoning his tanto he quickly blocked the powerful strike. The man holding it had white hair and large shark like teeth. "I'm Mangetsu Hozuki, a member of the 7 swordsman of the mist. I will be your opponent."

He swung the giant blade as easily as he would a kunai and Naruto could feel his hands shaking as the two traded blows, their blades clashing and parrying in an endless dance. With a grunt he dodged a strike to the chest and slid his blade forward to pierce his enemy's heart, however his attacked was blocked and he was forced to dodge as a huge surge of chakra shot out of his opponent's blade.

"Damn that was close," he muttered, before shooting forward to clash blades with Mangetsu again. All around them shinobi were dying, and Naruto was forced to divide his attention to quickly lace a genjutsu around an enemy Haku was struggling with and buying the girl enough time to slit the man's throat, while at the same time summoning a pair of shadow clones to buy him some time to weave through seals. Mangetsu made short work of the clones and formed seals of his own. Naruto finished first however and shot a whirlwind of wind blades at the swordsman, who was only able to block some of the wind blades with his sword. The attack left thin bloody gashes all over his body.

"You're good," he said. "What is your name, boy?"

"Naruto Uzumaki." He replied before throwing several shuriken at Mangetsu, who looked insulted at the meager attack. He moved to block them with his sword when to his surprise they multiplied into hundreds and he was forced to merely shield his vital points. Unfortunately this meant he took his eyes off Naruto for a split second which was all the blond need to move in close, a glowing blue sphere in his hand. "Rasengan!" He yelled piercing Mangetsu's stomach with the attack, killing him instantly.

Letting his enemy fall to the ground he surveyed the battlefield. Most of the loyal Mist anbu was dead, as were most of the rebels that had come with them. Ao and Zabuza had joined Mei in fending of Yagura who had transformed into his level 2-tailed beast state.

Haku, on the other hand, had trapped several anbu in her Demonic Ice Mirrors.

_'Alright Kurama, I need to end this before he goes fully into the three-tailed state.'_

**_'You have one shot at this, I'll give you four tails worth of chakra and you hit him with a tailed beast ball.'_**

Naruto summoned several shadow clones to warn the others to get out of the way, while Kurama flooded his system with chakra.

Using his meditation techniques he controlled the surge as best he could.

The entire battlefield froze as the sheer aura of Kurama's chakra filled the tower.

"Jinchuriki," mumbled Mei as she and the others headed the clone's advice and got out of the way. Naruto focused on creating the tailed beast ball, as Yagura suddenly turned his attention towards the sudden outburst of demonic chakra.

Before he could react however, the tailed beast ball was complete and Naruto swallowed it. Emitting a huge, incredibly dense beam of chakra, that scorched through the pillars holding the tower up and enveloped the transformed Yagura. A loud scream echoed through the place as Yagura was vaporized.

Naruto waited until he was sure Yagura had been killed, before releasing Kurama's chakra. His adrenaline gone, he sank down to his knees in pure exhaustion before being helped up by a certain busty red head who watched him curiously. "Interesting," was all she said.

* * *

Naruto stayed in Kiri for another month helping Mei eliminate any remainder of the radical faction as well as solidifying her power. By the time the Daimyo arrived two weeks later, Mei was the unanimous choice for fifth Mizukage.

She offered him a place in the village as an elite jonin but Naruto declined.

Haku was understandably upset that her best friend would be leaving, but a hug and a promise from Naruto to always be there for her left her smiling.

Finally his last day in Kiri arrived and a blushing Haku and playful Mizukage escorted him out of the village.

"You sure you don't want to stay Naruto-kun," she asked for the fiftieth time. Gathering him into a hug that left him with an excellent view of her chest, she gave him a sultry smile. "I can make it worth your while."

Naruto looked a bit confused, before shaking his head and smiling, "Thanks Mei-chan but I still have to finish my training trip and return home."

"Speaking of home, there's a place I think you should visit." Pulling out a scroll from who knows where she handed it to him. "To the north-east of here near the ruins of what was once the Hidden Whirlpool Village lies a forest called Shikkotsu. It is where the protectors of the Uzumaki clan are said to dwell. Perhaps it is someplace you should visit."

Naruto Nodded and pulling both women into a final hug vanished in a swirl of leaves.

The two watched him go for a moment before Mei turned to the younger girl, "Remember Haku-chan: I call first dibs."

* * *

It took Naruto a week to reach the ruins of Whirlpool. A brief search of the surrounding area revealed that there were no humans around at all. The Shikkotsu forest, Mei mentioned was a spooky copse of trees on the south side of the former village.

Naruto entered the forest cautiously, wary of the strange energy that seemed to permeate the place. A scratching sound ahead had him pulling a kunai, and he dodged to the side as a huge gray form leapt at him, claws outstretched. He tossed a kunai at the snarling beast who caught it in its teeth. Upon further inspection the beast was revealed to be a gigantic wolf.

Readying himself Naruto jumped towards the beast, and punched it in the nose only to be swatted by its gigantic tail. He shot several fireballs at it only for the beast to dodge and fire a concentrated beam of chakra from its mouth, hitting the boy in the stomach, only for a puff of smoke to appear. The boy had replaced himself with a log. The two squared off about to attack again when a strong authoritative voice, shook the trees.

"That is enough, Ryuuma," said the voice, which was revealed to be an old white wolf, with shaggy fur and a blind left eye. The giant wolf quickly sat back on its haunches. Clearly the old wolf was highly respected.

"Greetings, young Uzumaki."

_A.N. yet another chapter done._

_Next chapter, Naruto learns a few family secrets, and finally returns home._

_Fanfiction pet peeve number 1: I hate Naruto fics that build up Naruto into this god-like ninja and then stick him on a genin team to rehash the same old canon stuff. Give me some variety. If Naruto is gonna be bad ass then at least set him up against some strong foes like Orochimaru. Which brings me to my next point: don't be afraid to kill off characters. I hate seeing Naruto pawn Orochimaru at the chunin exams or whatever and then the guy somehow stays alive just to take up screen time._

_Til next time. _


	8. Chapter 8

_A.N Some people have asked me where are Jiraiya and Kakashi. To be frank, while both characters are really cool, neither had any influence in his life until canon, nor to be honest neither really taught him very much, so I don't see any reason to bring them around Naruto right now. So in this story Kakashi is still in anbu right now and Jiraiya is wherever he was before we see him in canon. Once again thanks to all the people who reviewed or favorite my story._

Naruto stared at the giant white wolf in pure shock.

"How did you know, that I am an Uzumaki?" he asked finally.

"We, the members of the Wolf Clan have been the protectors and comrades of the Uzumaki Clan, since the time of The Great Sage. The Uzumaki vitality and chakra potency is well known, and is a beacon to us." He then gave the equivalent of a wolfy bow "My Name is Fenrir, sage and elder amongst the Wolf Clan. If you will accompany me, to my den there is much to discuss."

Filled with questions, Naruto merely nodded, and followed the two wolves through the dark winding forest until at last they reached a series of caves that were attached to a large rocky mountain located in the middle of the forest. Large wolves filled the caves, and looked with thinly veiled curiosity at the human in their midst. Fenrir lead them up the mountain, before finally pausing at what appeared to be an old derelict temple located at the very top. To Naruto's surprise, he felt an odd yet comforting energy surrounding the place.

"That's natural energy, the chakra of mother nature herself. It is the very energy that we summons use." Said Ryuuma, who was now convinced that Naruto was not a threat.

"It's so powerful," Naruto remarked.

"It is indeed; perhaps you will learn to utilize it one day, when you are ready." Said Fenrir cryptically before sitting down on a large red pillow.

Before Naruto could ask what he meant, the wolf began his tale,"As I said before, young Uzumaki. We of the Wolf Clan have been the protectors of your clan for many centuries. Your clan is a cousin of the Senju Clan that grew to prominence during the Age of Wandering Clans and who eventually went on to establish Konoha. The Senju were famous for their mastery of every aspect of the fighting arts, while the Uzumaki was famous for their vitality and knowledge of fuinjutsu. They were so close, in fact, that Lady Mito, the daughter of the Uzumaki Clan head, married Harashima Senju. When Harashima made his peace with the Uchiha Clan, who at the time was the Senju's greatest rival, and established The Hidden Leaf Village, the Uzumaki were naturally invited to join."

"However, the Uzumaki elected to continue their wandering, until a few years later they settled and created what would become the Hidden Whirlpool Village. For decades Uzu and Konoha remained close allies. Then during the height of the Third Great Shinobi War, Iwa and Kumo, who feared the battle prowess and sealing techniques of the Uzumaki Clan, banded together and attacked the village. We fought hard and well, but their superior numbers allowed them to destroy the village. The survivors scattered around the elemental nations. Before he died however, Miroku, the Leader of the Uzumaki Clan entrusted a scroll to me and told me to give it to a surviving member of the clan." Naruto was transfixed by the tale, and couldn't help but be proud and saddened at his ancestors' legacy. His story finished, Fenrir nudged a small scroll towards him and Naruto read it eagerly.

_"M__y name is Miroku Uzumaki, Leader of the Uzumaki Clan. As I write this, the enemy is about to break through our defenses. I can only pray that our plan to evacuate as many of our people as possible is successful. Sealed in this letter are two scrolls. One containing the sealing techniques passed down through our clan, the other is the summoning contract for our longtime protectors, the__W__olf__C__lan. I have entrusted this letter to Fenrir-sama in the hopes that our clan may yet survive. As head of the clan, it is my duty to be the rear guard and I will hold off the enemy as long as I can. I entrust our legacy as well as my final request to the next generation. To the Uzumaki holding this letter I beg you to restore our clan to prominence and protect those members of the clan who have survived this massacre. Enclosed in our family jutsu is a seal I created that will alert the wearer whenever the distinctive vitality of an__U__zumaki is near, it will be your duty as the new clan head to safeguard any member of our clan you find._

_Thank you for honoring an old man's request._

_Sincerely, Miroku Uzumaki, 2nd leader of the Uzumaki Clan_.

Naruto's eyes filled with determination as he finished the letter. Turning to Fenrir, he pulled out a kunai and cut his finger. "I, Naruto Uzumaki, now clan head of the Uzumaki Clan, Do solemnly swear to restore my clan to prominence,and to honor Miroku Uzumaki's last request." Unsealing the two scrolls in the letter, he quickly signed his name in blood on the wolf-summoning scroll, and to Fenrir's great joy, immediately performed the ritual listed in the second scroll.

"Then Naruto Uzumaki, we, the Wolf Clan, vow to resume our duties as protectors of the Uzumaki Clan."

* * *

The next few months passed in a blur as Naruto spent his time mastering the summoning jutsu, as well as learning the Uzumaki fuinjutsu. The Uzumaki were truly the world's foremost seal masters, and he learned how to craft new and more efficient gravity seals, learned the seals traditionally used to seal the bijuu and even learned one seal that allowed him to store weapons into a seal placed on his hip and summon them into battle at any time. What was especially cool was that the Uzumaki, who being cousins of the Senju were also rivals of the Uchiha clan, had come up with seals to negate some of the powers of the rival clan's famous Sharingan. What it did was hide the motions of his chakra, making predicting his movements more difficult; it also sent a hard shock through his body to negate what the scroll described as the Ultimate Sharigan's Genjutsu.

After 2 and a half months and judicious use of shadow clones, He had learned every fuinjutsu in the scroll, and until he had use of it, entrusted it and the letter to Fenrir, on the chance something happened to him and he was unable to fulfill his promise. Finally after a year of war and wandering, it was time for him to return to Konoha.

* * *

The village had not changed much in his absence he thought, as he made his way towards the Hokage Tower. Deciding to surprise his surrogate grandfather, He crept up the tower and entered through the window overlooking the Sandaime's office.

"Hey Jiji," he yelled loudly, startling the old man who quickly and most suspiciously hid an orange covered book under his desk.

"Welcome back, Naruto," he said with a large embarrassed smile. He looked the boy over with concern for a minute before relaxing. "You've certainly grown, my boy."

Naruto grinned happily. "It's nice to see you too, Jiji. And yes I've grown much stronger, I think I'll go ahead and take the Jonin Exams."

Hiruzen laughed. "A bold claim to make for one so young, but if your exploits in Kiri are to be believed then you are indeed ready for the position." Naruto laughed guiltily, "How'd you hear about that?"

Sarutobi merely shook his head in bemusement." Well my student, Jiraiya, does possess one of the best spy rings in the elemental nations. And the offer of alliance from the new Mizukage, one Mei Terumi, that features you by name, was quite the hint as well. Perhaps it would be best if you explained just what all you got up to on this training trip of yours." Naruto filled him in about his meeting Kurama all those years ago and his training to control the fox's power and subsequent meeting with his father. He also touched on his time in Kiri as well as what he discovered in the Shikkotsu forest.

Hiruzen looked stunned and puffed hard on his pipe. "You've been quite busy Naruto. The idea of Madara Uchiha being alive is a scary one, but it would explain what happened on that night and just who it was that killed my wife. As for Kurama, I will trust your judgment, and I must say I'm quite proud of how far you have come. The Uzumaki have always possessed a seat on the Konoha council and as the new clan head it is your right to assume this seat if you so wish."

At this Naruto looked stricken. "No thanks Jiji, I'd rather spend my time training for now and not spend my time in meetings with boring old men." Hiruzen merely laughed, "Very well, Report to me tomorrow at training ground one for your Jonin Exam."

* * *

After leaving the Tower, Naruto Immediately made his way to Ichiraku's for a feast of his favorite food. Ayame was delighted to see him and the two spent hours catching up on all that had happened in the last year. After his eating his fill of ramen, he headed to the Uchiha district to see Itachi. When he got to his house however he found Mikoto and Itachi's little brother practicing shurikenjutsu in the yard.

"Hey sensei," he called before pulling the surprised woman into a hug. "You look well."

She laughed and hugged him harder. "So do you, you've grown quite a bit in the last year. Sasuke, this is your brother's best friend and my former student: Naruto Uzumaki." The boy looked awestruck and bowed slightly."Ni-san talks about you a lot, always grumbling at the lack of good sparring partners since you left."

"Where is Itachi, anyway?"

"He's on a mission. As you know he's in Anbu now."

"I see, well I suppose I'll just have to kick his ass when he gets back for not being here to greet me."

Mikoto merely laughed while Sasuke looked put out that anyone thought they could beat his big brother.

"How are Hana and Jin doing?" he asked.

Mikoto's face fell, "Hana is fine…But Jin died a few months ago. He was on a B-ranked escort mission and ran into some trouble with a missing-nin from Suna. , His teammate was able to defeat the man but not before Jin died from the man's poison."

Naruto looked distraught before nodding solemnly. Such was the shinobi way. He said his goodbyes and made his way one by one to say hello to his old friends. Hana was especially excited to see him and spent an hour regaling him with tales of her missions and clutching possessively to his arm. Finally he made his way to the memorial stone, to pay his last respects to his fallen teammate. To his surprise he found another man there. He was tall with gravity defying gray hair and wore a mask that covered his mouth and nose and was gazing at the stone as if his life depended on it. Silently nodding to the man, he knelt down and placed a flower over the stone. "Rest in peace my friend. You will never be forgotten."

* * *

The next day he made his way to training ground one, where the Hokage, Shikaku Nara the Jonin Commander, and an unknown third ninja were waiting. The unknown ninja had short spiky brown hair and a thick beard. He was also smoking a cigarette.

The jonin exam was a simple affair compared to the chunnin exams. All that was required was to have a minimum of two year's experience as a chunin and to display jonin level skills in a fight with a jonin of the Hokage's choice. Special jonin were evaluated by masters of their particular skill and given the rank accordingly.

"It is good to see you, Naruto," said the Hokage. "I'm sure you have heard of Shikaku. He and I will be evaluating if you have the skills necessary for your desired rank."

"Troublesome," muttered the Nara. "Your Opponent will be Asuma Sarutobi. You may begin when ready."

Asuma pulled out a pair of pair of trench knives and settled into a fighting stance. He was surprised to be fighting a boy so young and to his shock the boy had not moved since Shikaku said go. Suspicious he bit down hard on his lip, dispelling a genjutsu just in time to block a punch to the face with his arms. He lashed back out with a kick that was easily dodged. Now much more cautious he summoned wind chakra into his blades.

"That was a very well placed, genjutsu," he said, "but my best friend is an expert with them, so you'll have to do much better than th—" before he could finish his remark, a trio of fireballs shot at him from behind, at the same time earth spikes shot from the ground and attacked him. Cursing he cut through the earth spikes with his trench knives before dodging nimbly out of the way of the fireballs.

Hearing a loud hissing sound near his feet, he replaced himself with a log, just in time to avoid the explosive tags' detonation. He had no time to breathe a sigh of relief however as a volley of shuriken head his way. Deflecting the shuriken with a trench knife, he also dodged a kick to the face by Naruto, who merely twisted and landed a kick to the jonin's stomach continuing his assault with a fast flurry of punches that the jonin managed to block. Asuma counter attacked and managed to cut into his opponent's shirt with his trench knives. He kept on the assault, trying to pin down the extremely fast Naruto who dodged his attacks with ease.

Naruto summoned his sword from his hip seal and incasing it with wind chakra, met the trench blades head to head. Metal clashed and grinded against each other as both ninja attempted to overpower the other. Slash, parry, slash, parry, the dance continued for several minutes, before the two suddenly separated.

"Fire Style: Fire Dragon Jutsu," said Asuma. A large dragon of fire shot towards Naruto, who blocked it with a Water Wall,before receiving a punch to the face from the bearded jonin. The two swiftly engaged each other in taijutsu, punching and kicking rapidly to no avail. Finally Naruto's superior speed won out and he was able to connect a high kick to Asuma's chin, sending him flying backwards before being kicked into the ground by two shadow clones.

"Water Style: Water Bullets," yelled Naruto, sending 15 small orbs of water shooting towards Asuma, who screamed as he was hit before bursting into smoke. Naruto swirled and sidestepped a vicious attack from his enemy's knives.

* * *

"What do you think" asked Hiruzen, watching the battle with interest.

"Troublesome. Both are evenly matched right now, however Naruto-san has the greater speed, and he's currently leading Asuma into a trap."

Sure enough, Asuma stabbed his weapons into Naruto's arm only for it to explode and seemed him flying, before he received several punches to the back as well as a kick that slammed him into a nearby tree. He recovered and jumped up quickly and dispelling two shadow clones that attempted to capitalize on his weakness. He looked around for Naruto, only to jump with surprise when the blond shot out of the ground and delivered a low powered Rasengan to the man's stomach that sent him twisting awkwardly and slamming into a tree again. Quickly Naruto placed his tanto at the man's throat.

"Congratulations, Naruto." Said Sarutobi. "You are hereby promoted to jonin. May the Will of Fire forever shine brightly through you." He said, pleased at Naruto's victory and proud of what he had accomplished.

Two days later, Naruto received his official jonin flak jacket and was admiring it in his mirror when a soft voice spoke beside him, "It's good to see you my friend."

If Naruto was surprised by Itachi's sudden appearance he didn't show it, and merely embraced his best friend and brother.

"It's been too long," said Konoha's newest jonin before eying his friend intently." I don't suppose you've gotten any stronger since we last fought, have you?"

Raised eyebrows and the activation of his friend's Sharingan was his only response. Naruto grinned. This should be fun.

* * *

The next year passed quickly in a blur of missions and harsh training. Because he was now a jonin, he was able to take the harder A and S-class missions, and had access to the highest levels of the Konoha library. He commissioned several of his father's tri-pronged Kunai and in secret trained long and hard to learn to utilize them fully. He resumed his weekly spars with Itachi, and it was a frequent sight for the medic ninja at the hospital to see one or both of them in the hospital for chakra burns. Meanwhile Itachi shot through the ranks of Anbu and after only 2 years was made Anbu Captain. Yes life was going good until one day Itachi asked him to meet with him in their usual sparring ground.

"The Uchiha are planning a revolt," he said. "I have been tasked by the elders and the Hokage to spy on my brethren. The Hokage hopes to resolve it peacefully, however the elders and Danzo the Anbu Commander was unconvinced and they have ordered me to eliminate the clan myself. I agreed to do it on the promise that they agree to spare my mother and younger brother. They agreed,"

Naruto looked horrified. "How do they expect you to wipe out an entire clan, by yourself? Let me help. Together we can maximize the chances for success."

"No, Naruto. As an Uchiha it is my responsibility alone. To atone for my clan's sins. However I have more to tell you. You mentioned to me months ago that Madara Uchiha was alive and his role in the Kyuubi attack... well I have met him. I struck a bargain; I will help him get his revenge on the Uchiha clan if in exchange he will leave the village alone. We have no chance against him as we are."

"Damn it," Naruto cursed. "You still haven't told me how you expect to wipe out an entire clan by yourself, without alerting the anbu."

Itachi then activated his Sharingan, before switching it to Mangekyo,"With this. It seems the web spins even further. My cousin Shisui learned what the Uchiha were doing and attempted to use his own Mangekyo Sharingan to convince them to stop their foolish plans. However Danzo was adamant about wiping out the Uchiha and attacked Shisui, removing one of his eyes. He found me and told me what happened, before giving me his other eye and dying. I incinerated the body and in my grief I activated the Mangekyo. With this, slaughtering the clan will be easy."

"What do you need me to do?" asked Naruto, gritting his teeth in anger at the anguish that had befallen his friend.

"I need you to watch over Sasuke and my mother for me. I don't trust Danzo, or his Ambitions."

"What will happen after the mission is complete, how will they explain an entire clan just dying overnight?."

"They will name me the scapegoat, and I will be labeled as a Missing-nin."

Naruto studied this information for a moment before nodding. "I see." was all he said, before moving like lightning and punching Itachi hard across the face, sending him crashing into a tree. Appearing quickly next to the surprised man, he grabbed him by the shirt. "Listen to me you idiot; I'm not going to let you throw your life away like this."

Itachi was about to protest when Naruto glared at him, "Remember, we promised to protect this village. Me in the light and you from the shadows. It's why I vowed to become Hokage, and as the future Hokage, I refuse to let my best friend fall on his own sword."

Itachi looked stunned for a moment before laughing hard. "Then what do you suggest we do?" he asked.

"We bring the situation to old man Hokage. And if necessary, we take care of Danzo ourselves. If he's superseded the Hokage's order once, then he's done it before and is therefore a traitor and should be dealt with accordingly."

* * *

The two made their way to the Hokage's office and Naruto requested a private audience. Hiruzen was outraged that his advisors had gone behind his back, but grudgingly admitted that he would have probably been forced to issue such an order himself.

"I will carry out the mission," said Itachi. "It is for the good of the village. But what shall we do about Madara?"

"Hmmm" pondered Hiruzen, "Until we know what he has planned, there is little we can do to stop him."

"I have a suggestion, Hokage-sama," said Itachi. "After the massacre, Madara wanted me to join a group of missing-nin he called the Akatsuki. I don't know much about them, but he did tell me where to find them. I could join the group as a spy and pass on word of Madara's plans."

"For that to work, you will have to be officially labeled as a missing-nin." Hiruzen warned. "And considering who we are dealing with, informing too many people about your true mission could be deadly."

"Well… me and, you know,Jiji." Piped in Naruto, "and you can inform Shikaku, you know you can trust him and if anything happened to us, he can verify Itachi's loyalty."

"What about Danzo?" asked Itachi; glad his friend had come through for him yet again.

"Let us deal with Danzo, Jiji," said Naruto fiercely. "He disregarded your orders and ordered the death of Konoha citizens without the express approval of his Hokage. He can no longer be trusted and should be dealt with accordingly."

At Sarutobi's saddened look, the boy's voice softened, "Look Jiji, I know you hate this course of action, but surely you can see it is necessary."

Hiruzen laughed bitterly. "I suppose it is. Very well…Itachi carry out your mission and Naruto, when he is done you may move against Danzo. Be careful…I suspect my old friend did not completely disband his old Anbu program."

Itachi bowed and vanished in a swirl of leaves.

"You did well Naruto," said Sarutobi with pride. "You reminded me so much of your father just now."

Naruto grinned, "Of course. I plan on being Hokage someday, so I have to ensure the safety of our village." With a playful salute he vanished as well.

Hiruzen sat in his chair and smoked his pipe thoughtfully. _'Hokage… huh.'_

* * *

Itachi's mission went off without a hitch. He slaughtered the clan and knocked his mother and brother out with a well placed genjutsu and hit to the back of the neck.

He then met up with Naruto and the two made their way silently to the old abandoned building on the outskirts of the village, where Naruto sensed the old man's chakra.

They found the old man seated at a desk. Two masked Ninja beside him.

"So it has come to this." He said softly.

"Danzo Shimura,by order of the Third Hokage, your actions have been judged as treason, and you have been sentenced to immediate execution."

Danzo merely laughed bitterly. "So that old monkey, finally worked up the nerve to do what was necessary. And to send his greatest assets: Itachi Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki… youngest jonin and anbu captain in Konoha history and who even achieved S-class ability at such a young age. I suppose it is futile for me to resist."

he smirked at them. "I am the Darkness of shinobi, and the root that helps keep the village strong. I have only done what is necessary… and yet history shall only remember me as a traitor. Such is the fate of shinobi," he sighed. "I suppose there is no longer a place in this world for Ninja like me, who hold to the shadows and deal only in darkness."

"You are wrong, Danzo." said Itachi. "There is always a place for ninja like you… the light cannot survive without darkness…. When Naruto is Hokage and protects the village in the light, it will be my duty to guard it from the shadows. It is not your methods that are questionable here, Danzo…. merely your ambition."

The one-eyed man studied them for a minute before turning to the silent masked men beside him. "Fu, Torune, from this point forward I am giving leadership of Root to Itachi Uchiha…"

the two men merely bowed and said "yes "emotionlessly.

Noting the two boys' surprise, the old shinobi laughed. "I created the Root to protect the village. There's no point in me attempting to resist. On the off chance I was able to defeat you two, where would I go? No, my ambition is dead. And I must do what I must to ensure the future of this village. I have faith that you, Naruto Uzumaki, and you, Itachi Uchiha, are what is needed to make this village strong again." he tossed a scroll to Itachi, and handed him a bottle with a single red eye in it." This is Shisui's eye and that scroll contains information about root's membership structure…use them well."

Itachi merely nodded. "I have one final request," said the one-eyed ninja. "Please give me a shinobi's death. Let me die in the shadows with my honor intact." Itachi turned to Naruto who nodded, and in a burst of speed removed the man's head from his shoulders while Itachi set it on fire with Amaterasu.

Torune and Fu merely watched, before turning to Itachi, "What now, sir?"

_ A.N…_

_Whew there was a lot going in this one…_

_Next chapter there is a 3-year time skip and it will take us to the beginning of canon…_

_The ages right now for reference_

_Naruto –11_

_Itachi-14_

_Sasuke-9_

_Here are Naruto and Itachi's data book statistics as they are right now:_

_**Itachi**_

_**Naruto**_

_**Ninjutsu**_

_4_

_4_

_**Taijutsu**_

_4_

_4_

_**Genjutsu**_

_5_

_5_

_**Intelligence**_

_5_

_5_

_**Strength**_

_3_

_2.5_

_**Speed**_

_4_

_5_

_**Stamina**_

_3.5_

_5_

_**Hand Seals**_

_4_

_4_

_**Total**_

_32.5_

_34.5_

_**Itachi:****Ninjutsu**4, **Taijutsu**4, **Genjutsu**5, **Intelligence**5, **Strength**3, **Speed**4, **Stamina**3.5, **Hand seals**4_

_**Total 32.5**_

_**Naruto:****Ninjutsu**4**, Taijutsu**4**, Genjutsu**5**, Intelligence**5**, Strength**2.5**, Speed**5**, Stamina**5**, Hand seals**4_

_**Total 34.5**_

_Yes it looks like Naruto is stronger but really they are pretty similar. The data book doesn't take bloodlines into account and Naruto just beats him in speed and stamina._

_Yes, Danzo gave in… But remember, he does what is best for Konoha in his opinion. Plus he didn't really have a chance for survival as this is before he implanted all of those Sharingan and the wood release into his body. All he has is wind release and genjutsu which wouldn't work well against the two of them. So, at the risk of weakening Konoha with the death of his Root or the serious injury of one of them, he elected to go out with honor and trust the next generation…_


	9. Chapter 9

_A.N. Thank you for all the reviews and PMs I've received._

_Remember that this chapter is set three years after the last one_

_The ages are_

_Naruto –14_

_Sasuke-12_

_Itachi-17_

* * *

In the three years since the Uchiha Massacre, the village of Konoha had not changed much despite losing one of its founding clans. Ninja trained and grew stronger, missions were undertaken, and in the case of one particular ninja, surrogate little brothers were tortured.

"You'll have to try harder than that Sasuke-**chan**," mocked Naruto as he effortlessly batted away the boy's attack. This seemed to infuriate the boy and he activated his Sharingan, showing one tomoe in each eye, before renewing his assault, cursing as every one of his attacks were dodged easily. "Careful Sasuke, you wouldn't want Mikoto-hime to hear her baby boy use such language," the casual term of endearment the blond used for his mother only made Sasuke madder.

"Shut up," he yelled, attempting to silence the blond with a kick, only for the man to replace himself with a log. "You're barely older than I am. What does she see in you?" Naruto laughed.

The boy was referring to the fact that in the past few months he'd been spending an exorbitant amount of time at the Uchiha residence… it wasn't for lecherous reasons. Mikoto had had a rough time of coping after she discovered her husband's plots and the lengths her oldest son had been forced to go in order to fix the man's mistakes. She was reluctant to inform Sasuke, knowing the boy's reverence of his father, but when a month after the incident passed she found him training himself into the ground in order to avenge their finally told him the truth and swore him to secrecy. After awhile he had come to accept it and, with his mother's help, began training to restore the Uchiha Clan's honor instead.

The pressure still overwhelmed her from time to time and, a few months ago, Naruto had found her attempting to drown her sorrows with liberal amounts of sake. Naturally, he attempted to comfort her and one thing lead to another, and he woke up the next morning with a blistering headache and a huge smile on his face. They both agreed it was a mistake, and yet it wasn't a week later, when Naruto found himself in the pretty woman's bed again… they deigned to keep it casual, much to Sasuke's horror when he walked in on them one day.

"You forget, Sasuke-chan," Naruto teased,"That unlike you I have been a ninja for almost a decade."

The boy stuck his tongue out. "When Itachi-nisan gets back, he's gonna kick your ass."

Naruto blanched…the boy had a point.

He and Itachi communicated in secret every few months, passing info back and forth either through Itachi's crow summons or a member of Root.

Danzo's Foundation had been surprisingly mobile, and Itachi found he was able to run most of the operations, remotely from wherever he was at the moment. Naruto supervised the training, while Fu and Torune handled the organization's main forces in Konoha. Initially, they were little more than emotionless grunts, with barely chunin level skills, hardly worthy of being the Anbu they were meant to be, but after three years of harsh training, they were some of the finest shinobi the Leaf had. Their missions were mostly intelligence gathering, and selective assassination. They killed spies, sabotaged military expansion efforts of rival villages and, on occasion,silenced those with a grudge against the Leaf. They were quick, they were invisible, and they were without mercy.

Turning to Sasuke, Naruto merely grinned. "We'll see. But I'll see you later Sasuke, I have to go meet up with Yugao and you need to get ready for your genin exam. It's only a month away." Patting the boy on the head, he vanished in a swirl of leaves.

* * *

There were only five people besides Naruto and Itachi who knew the truth about the events of the Uchiha Massacre. The Hokage and Jonin Commander naturally knew because they were at the top of the chain of command,Mikoto and Sasuke were informed to put them at ease about the fate of their family member. The final person to know was Yugao, who knew only because she threatened to castrate the blond if he didn't tell her.

Naruto and Itachi had been so caught up in their planning that they forgot that Itachi's girlfriend and fellow anbu member was out of town for a mission and, thus, would be understandably upset to find out her boyfriend had been labeled a traitor and was no longer in the village. Itachi had realized this after their confrontation with Danzo.

Naruto had never seen the man's face pale so fast, and he was surprised when the genius immediately declared that time was of the essence and left the village as fast as he could. Yugao had returned three days later and, hearing the news and knowing her lover would never do something like that without a reason, she immediately sought out his best friend and her former teammate.

At first, Naruto planned to merely feed her the prepared story about Itachi wanting to measure his strength, when he noticed the dangerous glint in her eyes, and the gleaming sword she held awfully close to his crotch. Needless to say he told her everything. While angry the two had not consulted her before carrying out such a risky and important plan, she nonetheless agreed to help them. She was now an anbu captain, and she met with Naruto whenever she could to train or reminisce.

After meeting the purple haired woman for a drink, he left for the Hokage Tower to have his usual meeting with Sarutobi. A few days after Itachi left the village; the Sandaime summoned Naruto to his office, and spoke to him in great lengths about his desire to become hokage. Finally, the old man gave him a warm smile and vowed to help make his dream a reality. From that moment on, he met with the Hokage weekly, learning things about politics and lessons on how to run the village. For over a year the Hokage schooled him on the history of the elemental nations, gave him his personal opinion and the known abilities of his fellow kage, as well as the prominent ninja in every village.

He learned the key to working with and, on occasion, around the daimyo as well as more mundane things such as etiquette. The one good thing about being the Sandaime Hokage's new protégé, was the access to high level jutsu scrolls, as well as being able to pick the brain of the man who had mastered every technique that Konoha possessed.

Naruto's skills continued to improve and finally, a year and a half after his impromptu tutoring began, he had his first spar with the venerable Hokage.

He lost. Badly.

Naruto had fought his fair share of powerful opponents. Some, like Itachi, were his equal in skill and he was able to either hold his own or win through superior speed and chakra reserves. Others, like Mei, were fairly close to him skill wise but were able to defeat him with superior power. That was years ago and now Naruto was sure that he could at least force a draw from the busty kage.

Fighting Sarutobi was different. The leader of the Hidden Leaf Village held no overwhelming amount of physical power, or incredible bloodline, and the gap in technical knowledge while large was not insurmountable. In fact, Naruto was certain that his speed, strength and chakra reserves were greater than the old man's.

No, what made the Sandaime dangerous was his experience. He had been a shinobi for over 60 years and fought through 3 shinobi wars. Whatever attack strategies Naruto used, he had seen them before, every jutsu combo; he could counter it almost as fast as the boy could think of it.

Speed didn't help, he'd faced faster. Strength was of no avail, he'd faced stronger. The two fought for hours, and yet Naruto could not land more than a glancing blow on the old man. The blond finally conceded, and learned. From then on, every week, the two would spar and every week Naruto lost, yet his skills improved faster than ever as he fought an opponent that outclassed him in nearly every way, and forced him to think quicker, form hand signs faster, and train even harder.

Today, when the young ninja entered the elder's office, he found that he was at a meeting with someone.

Recognizing the short white dress and dark red eyes, he smiled. "How's it going, Kurenai-chan?"

The newly promoted jonin blushed. Naruto had been her opponent for her jonin exams a year ago. He defeated her easily while allowing her to show off her skills, and afterwards, to celebrate her promotion, offered to take her out for a drink to celebrate.

The two spent the next few hours discussing genjutsu and what it was like to be a jonin.

She was amazed to see someone as talented with her art as she was, and when he offered to walk her home she accepted. He moved in to give her a hug goodbye and before she knew it she was kissing him passionately and dragging him into the house.

"I'm very well, Naruto-kun," she said. "Lord Hokage was just informing me about my next mission: guarding some actress while she films a movie in snow country."

"Indeed, Yukie Fujikaze is a great actress." Said the hokage, puffing gently on his pipe.

Naruto froze. "Jiji, did you say Yukie Fujikaze?" When the old man nodded, Naruto had stars in his eyes."I love the princess gale movies. Jiji you have to let me go on this mission with her. I'll do anything."

Sarutobi laughed. "Anything? You know Konohamaru has been pestering me to let him spend time with you. I think it could be arranged if you agree to babysit him for say…a month?"

"A month," Naruto protested. He loved Konohamaru he really did, but the little brat could be annoying sometimes. "A week tops."

"That's too bad," said the old man sadly, barely managing to restrain a smirk. "Such a pity you won't be able to guard your favorite actress…"

Naruto gritted his teeth… "Fine you win." '_Evil old coot'_ he thought.

"Very well, you and Kurenai are to meet your clients near the east entrance in one hour."

* * *

Yukie Fujikaze was an incredibly beautiful woman. Standing at about 5'8 she had long silky legs that lead up to lush curves and a heart shaped face. Her hair was long and black, and her eyes a gorgeous sapphire blue. She was wearing a green blouse under a pink jacket and all in all was the very definition of stunning. Unfortunately she was also a bitch.

"C'mon please give me an autograph?" begged Naruto as he watched the woman pace around waiting for her film crew to arrive.

"For the last time, I don't give autographs. They are pointless."

"You're pretty grumpy for a star actress about to film her biggest movie ever."

"I hate being an actress," slurred the woman as she took a drink from a small white bottle.

"Are you drunk?" asked the blond. "It's 9 in the morning."

"Screw you blondie," she crowed. Before swaying lightly and, in a feat of sheer drunkenness, tripped over her feet. Before she could fall however, she found herself in Naruto's arms.

"You ok, Yukie-chan?" he asked, his eyes moving to the green crystal hanging around her neck. She stared at him blankly for a minute before turning her head and twisting her earring, which sent a thin mist into his eyes.

"What the hell was that?" the blond screamed, holding his eyes in pain.

"Pepper spray, for dealing with weirdoes like you."

A kunai shot into his palm as he contemplated all the ways he could kill her without anyone noticing. Luckily for her, Kurenai had arrived, leading a small, eclectic group of people.

One of the men, an old man wearing glasses, made his way quickly over to the actress."

"Yukie-san, you aren't drunk already, are you?"

"Sandayu." She said softly. Turning to him with blurred eyes, "I quit. I refuse to return to the Land of Snow. You can find another actress to play Princess Gale."

The director looked horrified at the thought and for the next several minutes they argued with the stubborn woman. Finally having enough, Naruto knocked her out with a genjutsu and hefted her on his back. "Let's go you guys," he said cheerfully, as he headed out of the village. The rest of the group watched him leave with stunned looks on their faces before turning to Kurenai who merely hid a bemused smile and followed him.

* * *

Yukie was out for hours and by the time she awoke, they were already on the boat headed for Snow Country. Grudgingly, she got into costume before heading out on the deck to run though her lines.

"She's a whole different person when she's acting," Naruto whispered to Kurenai.

"Indeed, either she is a phenomenal actress, or she's not as cold hearted as she appears."

"There's something more, happening here," he said softly. "Look at her assistant, he carries himself like a warrior and yet he doesn't have the look of a traditional bodyguard. Plus I spoke to some of the film crew. She didn't start acting out like this until they decided to film the ending in the Land of Snow. There's a reason she doesn't want to go back there. And I'm sure it's nothing good."

"Well it is an A-ranked mission, Naruto-kun," Kurenai teased. "Surely, the great Red Mirage isn't afraid of a little actress."

Naruto pouted, "No but I want you to be on your guard."

It wasn't long before they finally arrived. And the silver haired director immediately began setting up his next scene. Naruto was watching the incredible performance went he felt a faint feeling of disguised chakra. He quickly launched several shuriken towards the general direction of the feeling and was pleased when in a burst of chakra several forms appeared. One was a woman with pink hair and a curvy body, who stood in a battle stance next to a big burly man with purple hair. In the middle was their apparent leader, a tall man with light blue hair and a condescending smile.

"It is good to see you again, Princess Koyuki," he called maliciously.

Naruto glanced to the side where Yukie was hyperventilating._'A __princess? That would explain a lot. But something's wrong here, they are standing so close to me, and yet I can barely sense their chakra presence. It's like something is dampening it._'

"Calm down Yukie-chan, I'll protect you." Keeping an eye on the new arrivals, he lightly pulled the woman into a hug before handing her to Kurenai. "Watch her, while I take care of these guys." Kurenai nodded before vanishing with her now blushing charge.

"Be careful Nadare," said the pink haired woman," I think that's Naruto Uzumaki, Konoha's Red Mirage."

"No worries, Fubuki" said the burly man. "His fancy genjutsu will have no affect on our chakra armor."

"Oh, is that a fact?" asked the blond with false curiosity. "You seem awfully certain."

"Of course I am kid," he boasted. "Our chakra armor renders both ninjutsu and genjutsu, useless."

"That's enough, Mizore," said Nadare. "He is a dangerous man, no need to give away all of our secrets. Now Fubiki, you go after Koyuki, while Mizore and I handle him."

She nodded and vanished towards the retreating group. Naruto was about to intercept her when he was forced to dodge the tandem teamwork of the other two snow ninja.

He easily out maneuvered them and punched the big one in the stomach before twirling into a kick that sent Nadare flying into a nearby glacier. Rapidly forming seals, he sent a huge water dragon crashing towards Mizore, who managed to right himself and block it with a wall of ice. Nadare recovered as well and sent huge ice pikes surging towards him, which Naruto melted away with several fireballs. The two snow nin, moved to engage the blond again, and Naruto had to move fast to stay ahead of their attacks. Naruto attempted a few genjutsu to throw the two off balance but true to their word it was ineffective.

_'Guess I'll go old school,'_ he thought, before increasing his speed and kneeing Nadare in the stomach and punching Mizore in the face. While the two were stunned he summoned his tanto from his hip seal. And, in a burst of speed, sliced off Mizore's arm. The large man shrieked in pain and was quickly silenced with a slash across the throat.

Meanwhile, Nadare had recovered and look horrified to see his teammate's bloody corpse. "We will meet again, Uzumaki," he yelled angrily, he was about to turn in leave when he suddenly twisted and dodged an oddly shaped kunai that flew on past him. He was about to mock his enemy's aim, when he suddenly saw a flash of yellow and darkness took him.

Naruto focused on the seal he attached to the princess when he hugged her, and vanished in a flash of yellow.

* * *

He reappeared next to an awestruck Koyuki, who was watching the battle between Fubiki and Kurenai with wide eyes. Normally this would have been a poor match up for the Genjutsu Mistress, but during Naruto's jonin exam, he warned her of the dangers of overspecializing and she had started to work long and hard on her taijutsu.

She was now easily evading the snow ninja's ice attacks and repeatedly slammed the girl into a nearby glacier, snapping her neck.

"You looked great Kurenai-chan," he called startling the woman.

"Hey, Naruto. Done already?"

"Yep. All they had going for them was their fancy armor, take away that and they weren't even rookie jonin level. "

"Now princess, what's going on?" he said turning to her. The woman looked like she was about to ignore him with her usually stubbornness, when she finally sighed, "Very well, my real name, is Koyuki Kazahana. I am the daughter of the former Daimyo of Snow Country, Sotetsu Kazahana. He was a kind a gentle ruler who was obsessed with bringing spring to the land. Ten years ago my father was killed in a coup d'état by his brother, Doto, who was looking for my father's treasure. I managed to escape, I changed my name and became an actress and I swore never to come to this cursed land again." She burst into frustrated tears and Naruto lightly patted the girl's back.

"No need to cry, Koyuki-chan," he said before quickly picking up the blushing Koyuki and starting back towards the ship.

"Let's head back; I want to have a chat with that old man."

* * *

The group gathered in the dining room of the ship.

"Who are you old man?" asked the blond, idly twirling a kunai in his hand.

"I am Sandayu Asama, former samurai under Lord Sotetsu. When your father died I sought to find our missing princess. By the time I found you, you were already an actress, so I became your assistant in the hopes to bring you back to Snow Country."

He knelt before the blankly staring woman. "Please princess. You must lead your people in the fight against Doto." With a loud crash the old man found himself being held up by a furious Naruto, "You coward. Who are you to decide the fate of others? The decision to return and face her past is Koyuki's alone. You had no right to gamble with her life."

Sandayu looked ashamed. "Forgive me, but it is the only way I could think of to save our people."

"Everyone leave," Naruto ordered, "I wish to talk to Koyuki-hime alone."

Everyone scrambled to do as he bid, until finally the two were alone.

"Are you scared?" he asked finally, gazing into her eyes.

"Yes," she admitted softly.

"It wasn't right for him to drag you here, and if you want I will take you far away from this place." Before she could ask him to, he stopped her, "However running from your past will not erase it. And if you choose to confront it, I promise that I will be by your side and no harm will come to you."

Koyuki found herself transfixed by the sincerity in his deep blue eyes. "I don't want to die, Naruto-kun," she said finally, "but I don't want to run anymore either."

Naruto pulled her into a hug and lightly rubbed her back. "Then let's do neither, Koyuki-chan. let us fight and reclaim what is rightfully yours and put the past to rest." The woman could only nod.

Their course of action made, the group decide to stay the night on the ship, before attacking Doto's palace in the morning. The excitement of the day had gotten to the princess and she fell asleep quickly, lying against Naruto's chest. Careful not to wake her, he carried her into the room her and Kurenai shared.

His fellow jonin was reading a book, and smiled briefly as he carried the princess in.

He laid her gently in her bed and was about to leave when a female hand grabbed his wrist. Glancing down he met Kurenai's deep red eyes. She said nothing, merely kissed him hungrily and slowly dragged him down into her inviting form, completely unaware of the pair of eyes watching them with barely disguised interest

* * *

The next morning Naruto and Kurenai were lead by Koyuki and Sandayu to Doto's palace. Entering through a side door, they made their way to the throne room, where their target was sitting with a superior smile on his face. "Welcome back, my dear Koyuki, such a pleasure to see you again after all these years. my you've grown well."

He shrugged off his Kimono, to reveal dark blue chakra armor underneath. "Our newest model, totally impervious to not only ninjutsu and genjutsu, but kenjutsu as well, and it greatly amplifies the wearer's natural powers. With this I am invincible. So give me that crystal around your neck and I promise not to kill you."

Naruto merely laughed before appearing in front of the daimyo in a burst of speed and punching him in the stomach. To his surprise however the powerful punch merely glanced off the armor, and he received a hard knee to his stomach for all his trouble.

Quickly forming a rasengan he slammed it into the man's chest only for it to be deflected.

"Do you see how futile your efforts are?" mocked Doto. "Not even your strongest attacks can pierce my armor." Summoning his sword, Naruto slashed the man across the chest to no avail. Forming seals, he sent a volley of water balls at the man, who blocked them with a wall of ice. Doto's attack came in the form of ice wolves that ferociously moved towards the jonin. He smashed through them with a rasengan.

Doto pressed a button on his arm and to Naruto's shock, several panels opened on the ceiling and hundreds of kunai shot towards them. "Wind Style:Wind Gale," a torrent of wind caught the kunai and sent them flying inDoto's direction who merely raised his hand and intercepted them with twin ice dragons.

"You cannot defeat me! My chakra armor negates the effects of all your attacks, you are helpless."

Naruto smirked, "Not quite." In a burst of speed he appeared before Doto and gave him a satisfying punch to the face that sent the man flying and crashing into a nearby wall.

Doto groaned and tried to stand, when he saw Naruto standing before him, with a swirling ball of red and blue chakra. "Your armor blocks normal jutsu," he said quietly, "but how effective will it be against an attack enhanced by a demon's energy? Let's find out!" He slammed the ball into Doto's chest, eviscerating the chakra armor and killing the man instantly. Walking back towards Koyuki, who looked to be in near tears as she realized her uncle was dead. "You are safe now," he murmured.

Unable to stop herself the hysterical woman glomped him,"Thank you so much Naruto-kun."

"So what will you do now princess?" asked Kurenai with amusement.

"I have decided to take my rightful place as Daimyo of Snow Country. It's time to embrace the future." Sandayu was positively beaming.

"So I suppose this will be the last Princess Gale movie then," said Naruto.

"I don't know about that. I think I'll be both an actress and a daimyo. I just got offered a part in the new Icha Icha movie."

"That would be improper, your highness," protested the horrified samurai, much to everyone's amusement.

* * *

A few weeks later it was official and Koyuki was now the leader of Snow Country. She paced in her new room at the daimyo's mansion, waiting for her friend to arrive.

"You wanted to see me Koyuki-chan?" asked Naruto, appearing out of nowhere.

She yelped in surprise. "Don't do that Naruto-kun."

The blond giggled. "So what's up?"

"Naruto-kun," she asked softly. "Would you be willing to stay here and become my protector?"

"I'm sorry Koyuki-chan, but I have vowed to become hokage of my village. I cannot abandon that goal." Seeing her face fall, he reached into his pocket and handed her a bulky envelope. "This envelope contains one of my special kunai. If you are every in danger, or need me for any reason, just throw it and I'll be here in a flash."

Overcome with joy she hugged him hard, before pulling him into a kiss…

"Thank you Naruto-kun."

* * *

The next morning the two shared one final kiss before Naruto left to find Kurenai.

The journey back to Konoha was much faster without their clients and the two jonin made great time.

"That was a fun mission," said Naruto as they sped across the water.

"Indeed, Koyuki is an incredible woman and will make a fine daimyo."

"So what will you do when we get back to the village? Anko has been hounding me lately about another drinking contest."

Kurenai laughed, "As fun as that sounds I have to prepare, the genin exams are a few days away and I've been selected to be one of the sensei."

He snorted, "Better you than Kakashi, he hasn't passed a team yet since he got out of Anbu a few years ago. Seems like a waste to me. Teamwork is something that is taught, not instinctively known."

"I agree completely."

"So any outstanding candidates this year? I hear Hana's little brother is graduating and so is the Hyuuga heiress…not to mention Sasuke-chan."

"I'm surprised you weren't elected to become a sensei. You were his brother's partner, surely you would be ideal to train him in his Sharingan."

"Jiji practically begged me to. But I told him I'd rather put on a green jumpsuit and train with Gai." The two laughed and jumped seamlessly from the water into nearby tree tops.

"So who is it, you want on your team?" he asked.

"I want Hinata-san. She is a sweet girl and her father's a jerk. If she were able to get rid of her confidence issues, she'd be an excellent kunoichi."

"Confidence issues? I might be able to help with that. But it'll cost you."

"What did you have in mind?" she asked sultrily, her red eyes gazing longingly into his.

Naruto grinned and in one deft motion picked her up, ignoring her yelp of surprise, and sped towards the village at supersonic speeds.

_A.N._

_This was a hard chapter to write, as I honestly have never seen any of the Naruto movies however, Koyuki will play a part in the future._

_I hope you enjoyed the interactions with Naruto and the girls…. it's about as romantic as this story will get, and before anyone asks, I will not post any mature material on this site. I actually have little skill writing such scenes. Although, if enough people wanted them, I could find someone to write them for me and post them as an outtake story on a different site. Hmmm…_

_Til next time, Millennion._


	10. Chapter 10

Naruto blinked rapidly, and then stared down at his bed where Hana Inuzuka was snoring softly. It'd been a hell of a week, and he'd just returned from a hellish mission in the Land of Birds, to solve the mystery of some cursed ghost who was haunting the area. Turned out it was a pretty girl named Toki who had assumed her brother's identity to take revenge on the man who killed him. He liked the sheer spunk the woman showed and agreed to help her. A few days later Hoki was 6 feet under and Naruto was getting a wondrous send off from the grateful daimyo. In fact, he still had the scars.

Moving silently so he didn't wake Hana up, he began the arduous task of sneaking out of the Inuzuka compound, a difficult task considering all the ninken around. He actually managed to make it to the kitchen leading to the back door when a sleepy voice stopped him.

He turned to see a boy with messy brown hair, large canines and a white puppy on top of his head." What are you doing here, Naruto-san," asked the boy sleepily.

Frantically thinking of a response, he was about to answer when the boy suddenly sniffed and growled at him. "You bastard," he yelled. "You have Hana's scent all over you." "See I can explain," he said holding his hands up to stop the boy from doing anything rash. When it was clear that the boy was about to attack, and not wanting to wake up Hana or god forbid, Tsume, he quickly dropped a smoke bomb and vanished in a flash of yellow while Kiba was sputtering from the smoke. "I'll kill you Uzumaki," he silently vowed.

* * *

Naruto appeared in his apartment with a grin. _'Make that two genin that want to kill me,'_ he thought as he raided the pantry for some ramen.

For his own amusement and at Mikoto's request he spied on Sasuke while he was having his true genin exam as a member of Kakashi's team 7. When the raven hair boy mentioned wanting to kill a certain blond, he nearly burst out laughing.

It was now nearly 6 am and time for his weekly spar with Hiruzen.

Making way to the old man's private training field he waited.

Hiruzen arrived a few minutes later, wearing an old fashioned black jumpsuit and large gray gauntlets and carrying a large bo staff.

"You ready Naruto-kun" he asked, bo staff lying slack in his hands and giving him the false appearance of being completely open.

"You know it, Jiji," he boasted, summoning his sword into his hand. There was a loud Clang of metal on metal as Naruto's tanto blocked the impossibly fast strike of Hiruzen's staff. Flipping backwards he launched a flurry of shuriken at the hokage who merely twirled his bo staff to deflect them. The shuriken veered to both sides of the man and burst into smoke, revealing hidden shadow clones who launched shuriken of their own."Shadow shuriken jutsu," yelled three voices and thousands of shuriken soared towards the old man who almost casual went through seals and blocked them with an earth dome. "You'll have to do better than that," he lectured before noticing the blond's smirk. Attached to each of the shuriken was a small exploding tag. They promptly exploded sending the older man flying back. Naruto was about to grin in triumph when the body in front of him burst into smoke, revealing it was a shadow clone.

"Earth Style: Earth Flow River," said a voice from behind him. The ground beneath the blond turned into liquid earth that threatened to drag him down into the ground.

An instant later an earthen dragon's head appeared and began to lob dense balls of earth at him. With a burst of wind chakra he sliced through the dragon head and in a burst of speed escaped from the earth river and punched Hiruzen in the face only for him to turn into a log and belt him in the head with his staff. Naruto exploded and Hiruzen was forced to shield himself from the blast. Naruto appeared behind him and landed a kick to his back, sending him flying. While in the air he formed seals and sent a huge twin headed dragon of fire soaring towards the blond who blocked it with a hastily formed water dragon. The two began rapidly launching jutsu:fireballs crashed against earth shields and spikes of earth were cut apart with blades of wind. Naruto spat a volley of water bullets at the Sandaime who easily dodged them only to receive a punch to the face. They battled back in forth, Naruto's greater speed and strength slowly winning over the Hokage's agility and greater skill until, finally, he landed a devastating elbow to the man's stomach. Hiruzen ignored the pain and grasped the boy's arm and with a firm yank, dislocated the boy's shoulder." Naruto gritted his teeth in pain, and used his other arm to summon a kunai and stab it into the old man's leg causing him to drop his arm and back away enough to heal it. "Very well done Naruto," he praised. "You have finally learned to block out pain and exhaustion and continue fighting as hard as before. I couldn't be prouder of you my boy."

"Thanks, Jiji" he grunted, popping his shoulder back into place.

"You are a worthy successor, and will make a fine hokage. I will make the announcement in a few weeks after I confer with the daimyo. You will officially be the Fifth Hokage Candidate." He laughed, "I'm looking forward to it… the paperwork has been piling up lately."

"Maybe if you weren't always reading those orange books, you'd get it done on time," the blond teased.

* * *

A month Later Naruto found himself on the outskirts of Wave Country, cursing his luck.

A few days before, he had been returning from an A-rank mission to kill a Kumo ambassador in grass country, when he ran into a group of peddlers about to be slaughtered by a large group of bandits. Feeling bored and chivalrous Naruto decided to help them and slaughtered the bandits instead. Next thing he knew, however, he was under attack by an unknown group of ninja. He killed them quickly and discovered that one of the peddlers was actually Haruna, princess of the Land of Vegetables and named heir to the throne.

Her land had been taken over by a group called the Criminal Brothers and they were traveling around seeking help. Feeling slightly amazed that he had saved his third beautiful princess in the last eight months, he agreed to help. And he helped them kill the brothers and return control back to Haruna, who not only gave him quite the thank you, but asked him to be her advisor. He left her with a hirashin kunai and promised to come if she ever needed help.

Now he was rushing back to Konoha when he felt an aura of killing intent and quickly dodged a series of shuriken that headed for his head. Summoning his sword he eyed his opponent. It was obviously a man; he was of average height and wore a black cloak with red clouds on it as well as a straw hat. "Naruto Uzumaki," said a familiar monotone voice. "It is time for you to die." Naruto quickly formed seals and sent a dragon of water surging towards the man who blocked it with a water dragon of his own. Naruto gritted his teeth in anger as he threw jutsu after jutsu at the man only for them to be countered effortlessly. Finally, in a burst of speed he landed a punch to the man's face, knocking his hat off and revealing, red tomoe eyes. "Itachi," he cursed and attempted to stab the Uchiha in the chest with his sword only for it to be blocked by the man's own sword. Their blades clashed in insane speeds until Naruto appeared behind Itachi in a burst of speed and punched him in the back of the head, only for him to burst into smoke and explode; sending the blond flying. He followed it up with a series of punches and kicks that slammed the younger ninja into a tree.

Righting himself, Naruto sent a torrent of water towards the Uchiha followed instantly by huge spears of earth and several large balls of fire.

"Itachi was unable to counter these all at once and was forced to dodge sloppily to the left. To his surprised a form shot out of the earth beneath him and hit him with a Rasengan to the stomach sending him careening to the ground but not before he kicked his enemy in the groin and locked eyes with him, "Tsukuyomi."

* * *

Naruto instantly found himself in a strange world tinged with red with a giant moon hanging before him.

"That hurt you bastard," he yelled.

"Forgive me, but you did hit me with a Rasengan," said Itachi, nursing his stomach.

"A low powered one! Besides, that's no excuse for a pebble shot."

"No. But I have heard some disturbing rumors about you and my mother. Care to explain, Naruto?"

_' Damn you Torune,'_the blond cursed. "Uh sure 'Tachi. See what had happened was-"

"Save it, just know that if you break her heart I will send you into the Tsukuyomi for real and spend the next hundred years torturing you slowly with my kunai."

Naruto gulped and nodded rapidly. "So what did you want to talk to me about that required such a rude hello?"

"Sorry, but it had to be convincing on the off chance Zetsu was watching."

"He's not. I checked...so what's up?"

"I have discovered the Akatsuki's true goals. They plan to gather the bijuu and use them to form a weapon to control the elemental nations."

Naruto laughed. "Could you imagine the paperwork?" Turning serious he sighed, "What do you have on their members?"

"I gave a file to one of my Root ANBU. He will deliver it to you when you return to the village."

"Ok. Anything else?"

"Yes. Orochimaru is planning to attack the village."

"What? Didn't you cut off his arm and made him run like an academy student?"

Itachi smirked. "Yes. But apparently he established a village in Rice Country years ago called Otogakure. I'm not quite sure what he has planned but Zetsu did manage to find out it would be during the upcoming chunin exams."

"He's got to know that an upstart village like Oto would have no chance against Konoha alone. Did he get one of the five to help him?"

"Not sure but we should assume he has something planned."

Naruto nodded, "Ok, have Root look into any village that could be helping him. I'll discuss things with Jiji and if necessary take care of the snake myself."

"It may beis prudent of me, but make sure your friend the Mizukage is present at the finals."

Naruto thought about it. "I don't want her involved; this is a Konoha matter and should be handled by us. However, I will ensure whatever team she enters makes it to the finals just in case."

Itachi nodded and was about to cancel the jutsu when Naruto caught his arm. "How are your eyes holding up?"

"Getting worse but I'll be able to manage for a while yet."

"Good. Jiji has made me the official candidate for fifth Hokage, you will be returning home within the next few years. Until then I've kept Shisui's eyes sealed and ready for you."

"Thanks, my friend." He replied and with a thought he canceled the jutsu and the two found themselves in the outside world.

They were about to clasp hands and say goodbye when a loud explosion sounded and a pillar of smoke rose from the east. The two exchanged glances and stealthily made their way towards the smoke.

They found a clearing surrounded by a deep mist. "The Hidden Mist jutsu," commented Itachi.

"Can you see who's in it?"

"The mist obscures my Sharingan; I'd have to get closer."

"So much for the so called supreme bloodline," Naruto teased before closing his eyes and using his sensing ability. "Seven people: one civilian and six shinobi. Three are jonin level and all feel familiar-either allies or former last three are genin except for one whose masking his chakra very well. Let's see…chunin level… wait a minute." Surprised he turned to Itachi, "Your brother's down there. One of the jonin must be Kakashi while the guy masking his signature must be Sai…the Root you sent to protect Sasuke." Itachi looked ready to head there but Naruto stopped him. "Wait. You can't break your cover in front of Kakashi. I'll head down there and intercede if necessary."

With a wave to his friend, he vanished in a swirl of leaves.

Itachi watched him go for a moment before smiling softly. "Thanks Naruto."

* * *

Naruto cursed as he silently hopped through the trees towards the clearing.

_'Damn it sasuke-chan…don't die on me.'_

He reached the clearing just in time to see Kakashi get captured in a water prison…

_'Who's holding it…is that…Zabuza? What the hell is he doing here?'_ He watched for a minute as with teamwork the trio of genin managed to force the mist ninja to release Kakashi. Focusing his sensing ability he began searching for the chakra signature he knew would be close by_. 'There she is.'_

He appeared silently next to her with the body flicker. "How's it going,Haku-chan?"

The girl jumped but, to her credit, she immediately launched a volley of senbon at him before she realized who he was. "Naruto-kun," she exclaimed happily, leaping to embrace him. He caught her easily and pulled her into a hug.

"I missed you too. Care to tell me what's going on here?" Haku stiffened, then blushed and refused to answer.

"C'mon spill. Last time I checked you guys were in Kiri. Did Mei-chan send you on a mission?"

"Not exactly. Well…you see…technically we are missing-nin." His jaw dropped and she hurried to explain, "You see after the battle with Yagura. Zabuza-sama was injured badly, and by the time he was released Mei-sama had already been chosen as Mizukage. Well, he felt this was unfair and that a woman had no place as leader of a village. So he challenged her for the title and was easily defeated…"

Naruto laughed and after a failed attempt at a stern look she continued. "It probably would have ended there. But Ao-san had a bit too much to drink and told everyone about it. Ashamed,Zabuza-sama decided to leave and gather the money to stage a coup. And naturally I went with him. We wandered for awhile and a month or so ago we were hired by Gato to kill a bridge builder."

Naruto tried vainly to fight the approaching headache… "What a mess." he muttered. "Ok, Haku-chan. It looks like Zabuza is on the ropes so go save him. Tell him I'll be there later to kick his ass for causing all this trouble." She turned to leave when Naruto stopped her and pulled her close and sliding his hands under her chin slid his lips on hers.

"For luck," he whispered, enjoying the sight of her blushing. She bowed lightly to him and headed to save Zabuza from an approaching water dragon. When the two Mist nin left and Kakashi fainted from Chakra exhaustion, he rubbed his head and sighed… "Troublesome."

* * *

Yep his luck truly sucked he thought as he sat in Tazuna's living room.

After leaving Haku and unsure if there were any more enemies he had jumped down and revealed himself.

After dealing with the shrieking of the pink haired banshee and the not so subtle vibes of killing intent from Sasuke, he picked up the fallen Kakashi and had Tazuna lead the way to his home. They were met at the door by the bridge builder's incredibly hot daughter.

Just when Naruto thought his luck was taking a turn for the better, he met her son Inari.

Fatalistic brat. The boy had immediately informed them that they were going to die, and spent the next half hour telling them how stupid they were much to the their annoyance.

He had just put Kakashi in the upstairs bedroom and sent the genin to guard the perimeter of the house, when an evil thought hit him. Knowing just the way to get even with the little brat he made his way downstairs."Tsunami-chan I'm ready for the rest of the tour."

Half an hour later. Sasuke felt a strange urge to kill come over him as he listened to the odd sounds coming from the house.

Kakashi woke up the next day and was surprised to Naruto sitting next to him, eating what looked to be a delicious batch of homemade cookies.

"How are you feeling?" he asked munching away.

"I'm fine…what are you doing here?"

"I was just passing through and caught the tail end of the fight…when you passed out I decided to make sure your genin got you somewhere safe." He raised a crooked eye at the injured jonin who had just pulled out an orange book.

"Strange you have the time for porn, considering you just got your ass kicked. I mean how did an S-class ninja like yourself get beat up by someone like Zabuza?"

"So I may be a bit rusty…you gonna stay here while I recover?"

"Nah. I heard what's going on. I figure I'll take care of Gato and Zabuza myself."

"I see…. well that leaves me more time to find out just what Miroku is gonna do with Sango in the hot springs." Giggling perversely he turned his attention back towards his porn.

Naruto sighed and made his way downstairs where Tsunami was whistling and making ramen. Inari looked confused and kept looking around trying to determine the source of his mother's good mood. Naruto grinned and lightly patted the boy's head.

"Is that one for me, Tsunami-chan?" he asked sitting down.

The woman blushed when she noticed his presence. "Yes Naruto-kun…here you go."

The blond dug in heartily and basked in the angry glares Inari was sending his way. Slurping the last drop he let out a contented sigh. "That was delicious, Tsunami-chan," gathering the embarrassed women into a kiss, and after savoring Inari's looks of disgust, he vanished in a swirl of leaves.

* * *

After an hour or so of recon he followed one of Gato's thugs to the man's mansion. Sensing no chakra signatures worth any note, he formed about a hundred shadow clones. "Ok guys, you take care of Gato and his goons… if you find anything valuable transfer it to one of our Root storehouses. If you have any trouble just torture the information out of him."

"Sure thing, Boss" said one of the clones. "Where are you headed?"

"I have to go rendezvous with the lovely Haku and kick Zabuza's ass."

Locking on to the strongest chakra signature in miles he leapt towards Zabuza's location.

The man was pacing around a large campfire; stubbornly ignoring whatever it was Haku was telling him.

"But listen, Zabuza-sama. Naruto-kun is here, we should flee," pleaded the pretty girl.

"You should listen to her Zabuza-chan," said the blond appearing out of nowhere.

"Foolish move, coming here brat…" Grabbing his giant sword the mist ninja quickly summoned a dozen water clones. "You cannot take us both on alone."

"Haku-chan won't be fighting. And after I kick your ass, she's gonna drag you back to Kiri where you will beg for Mei-chan's forgiveness." In a burst of speed he cut all of the water clones in half and had kicked Zabuza into a nearby tree. Before the man could recover, he landed a knee into the man's stomach and wrenched his sword from him. Flipping it expertly, he tossed it to Haku's hands who looked torn about what to do with it.

Zabuza recovered and in surprisingly quick movements for a man of his size attempted to engage the blond in taijutsu. The Kiri ninja's strikes were quick and powerful and yet Naruto batted them away as if they were nothing and punched the missing–nin rapidly in the stomach. Zabuza lashed out with his foot to catch the blond with a blow to the crotch, but cursed when the boy puffed into smoke. He formed the Hidden Mist jutsu and cackled as the thick mist set in and obscured his enemy's vision. "Eight vital points' he crowed, "Which one should I use?" He began slowly stalking his opponent…nearly bursting with satisfaction at having found a way to defeat the troublesome blond. "I can see you're trembling," he mocked retrieving Kuburiki Houcho and preparing to slice off the boy's head.

"It's not trembling, its laughter," stated the blond before hitting the shocked swordsman in the stomach with a low powered Rasengan. "I'm a sensor, you idiot. Or have you forgotten that; besides if you are going to perform a silent kill it would be best if you shut. Your. Damn. Mouth." He enunciated each word with a punch to the swordsman's body.

"Give up yet?" he asked calmly. Zabuza merely shrugged off his pain and started forming seals. He formed a huge water dragon that soared towards Naruto. The blond merely grinned and formed his own much larger dragon that overcame the smaller one and slammed into Zabuza's body. The Kiri nin slammed into the ground with a sickening crack.

"Is he dead?" Haku asked tentatively.

"Nah just knocked out. He'll be out for a few hours so we have some time to kill." He grinned, "However should we spend it?"

Haku blushed as the boy pulled her in closer.

* * *

A few days later Naruto prepared to leave. Zabuza had been convinced to return to Kiri and, with Gato and his goons dead, there was little threatening the bridge builder anymore. Figuring Sasuke and his team were safe once Kakashi recovered. The blond decided it was time for him to go. He said goodbye to Tsunami and idly looked around for Inari. He found the boy whispering heatedly with Sasuke and shooting the blond evil looks. The two boys had bonded over their mutual disgust with the blond and the things he did with their mothers. They both had decided to achieve vengeance together. When a cold shiver went down Naruto's body and he caught vague snippets of words like "castration" and "burned alive." He decided that discretion was the best part of valor and vanished in a swirl of leaves.

* * *

_'Yep , Kami definitely hates me,'_ Naruto decided as he quickly dodged the onslaught of kunai sent after him. Ok, so maybe he had been on a mission in Earth Country to escort some minor nobleman. And just maybe he had run into his old friend from a long ago chunin exam named Kurotsuchi, who had in his opinion grown up nicely. And just maybe said friend had been excited to see him and invited him for a drink to catch up. And in this long string of maybes, perhaps both of them had gotten quite drunk and, at Kurotsuchi's suggestion he might add, decided to make love on her grandfather's desk.

_'Still no reason for the old man to overreact and send four squads of ANBU after me,'_ thought the blond as he deflected the rest of the assorted kunai and shuriken thrown at him with a burst of wind and easily dodged the spikes of earth that attempted to impale him. In a burst of chakra, he caught the ANBU in an area-wide genjutsu and while they moved to dispel it he vanished in a flash of yellow.

* * *

"Hmm so both Iwa and Kumo have decided not to send genin to the upcoming but not suspicious. If Orochimaru wants to be able to get as many of his people into key positions as possible then whoever he's working with must have a team in the exams. Probably a ringer team so they can instantly make it to the finals, where the leader of their village will be invited to attend and in close proximity to the hokage," said blond was sitting in his secret office, having a meeting with Fu and Torune.

"Besides Suna and Kiri, all the rest of the candidates are from minor villages like Ame and Grass. None of them have the military strength to go against us besides Kiri and Suna and they are allies," said Fu quietly.

"I'm certain that Mei-chan won't attack us. In fact, I plan on maneuvering it so her team passes the exam, so I can be sure she's here to back us up if necessary. As for Suna, I don't think they will attack us, however relations with them have soured lately as their daimyo keeps sending his missions to us, so we can't overlook the possibility that they would seize an opportunity to kick us while we are down."

"Ok…Fu, form your best stealth team. Their mission will be to capture the team from Oto for questioning. Do it during the second exam, that's where security is leanest. Torune, I want you to recall all active ninja that aren't on S-class assignments and have them stationed at key areas like the orphanage, the academy and the hospital." Naruto turned towards the window, "there's always a chance that this attack is a diversion for another objective. He's always been obsessed with the Sharingan and since Itachi is too strong he may go after one of the two Uchiha left in the village. Mikoto-chan is a jonin and I'll make sure she gets shadowed by the ANBUjust in case. As for Sasuke, I'll have several of my wolves patrolling the Forest of Death. If anything happens they can reverse summon me there in an instant."

"It appears you have thought of everything, Naruto-sama," they said before vanishing to carry out their orders.

_'That snake is slippery,'_thought the blond,_'So what am I missing?'_

* * *

A few days later Naruto was summoned with the other jonin to a meeting at the Hokage's office. The old man had been furious when he learned of his treacherous former student's plans. Because they didn't know the extent of the Sannin's spies in the village, Naruto advised him to keep the attack a secret for now and to secretly call back Jiraiya and any other ninja he could.

"The Chunnin Exams are one week away, what teams will be nominated?"

One by one the jonin-sensei of the rookie 9 nominated their teams.

_'How many from this current bunch will become chunin?'_ Naruto idly thought before grimacing. With the current state of affairs a better question would be:

How many would survive?

_A.N finally finished. The story is about to pick up and things will move faster. I hope you guys enjoyed the bits of humor in this chapter, as things will be quite serious for the next little bit._

_As always thanks to those who reviewed and favorited this story and a special thanks to Trowa No Miko who has been the best beta a guy can ask for._\

_Some of you asked for the stats of a few ninja so here we go,_

**Ninjutsu**

**Taijutsu**

**Genjutsu**

**Intelligence**

**Strength**

**Speed**

**Stamina**

**Hand Seals**

**Total**

**Itachi**

5

4.5

5

5

4

5

4

5

37.5

**Naruto**

5

5

5

5

4

5

5

5

39

_In case you were wondering in this story the Sandaime is a 36_

_In canon he's a 34 however his training with Naruto has raised his strength and stamina._

_The ages at the end of this_

_Rookie 9- 13_

_Naruto- 15_

_Itachi- 18_

'_Til next time… Millennion_


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Samurai Deeper Kyo.

Naruto was studying charts in his office and rubbing his head in frustration. His plans were coming together. All Root operatives were positioned at key places in the village and he had even managed to send word to Mei about the coming invasion, and she had agreed to help if necessary. However none of the Intel he received gave him any indication about who Orochimaru's allies were. Deciding to grab some Ramen and clear his head, he made his way towards Ichiraku's. He was just passing through the center of the village when a loud yelp filled the air. Speeding towards the sound, he observed a makeup wearing ninja, with a Suna forehead protector holding a screaming Konohamaru by the throat. He carried something bulky on his back and his chakra levels were chunin level at least.

"Apologize, brat" ordered the Ninja, who appeared to be enjoying the boy's fear.

"Stop it, Kankuro," said his companion, a beautiful blond girl who looked oddly familiar. She carried a large fan on her back and looked nervous about her friend's actions.

"We don't want any trouble in a foreign village; especially if he notices."

The Suna-nin didn't have a chance to respond as Naruto had had enough and in a burst of speed, had his Kunai against the boy's neck.

"You wouldn't be assaulting a civilian, the Hokage's grandson at that, in an allied village now would you?" he said pleasantly." Now give me one good reason, why I shouldn't make you two a head shorter."

The Suna-nin looked horrified at just who he had been choking.

"I'm Kankuro, this is my sister Temari. We are the children of the Kazekage and we're here for the chunin exams. The boy ran into me, I just wanted him to apologize"

Naruto dug in his Kunai a little harder. "I see. So is this true Konohamaru?"

"Yes Naruto-'niisan.. I was going to say sorry but then he grabbed me."

"Well it sounds like this is just a misunderstanding. So I suppose I can let you two live, that is if your friend in the trees shows himself." He glanced up in the trees, where a read headed boy carrying a large gourd was standing silently. "Kankuro you're an embarrassment to our village…keep it up and brother or not, I'll kill you."

"I'm sorry Gaara," mumbled the boy clearly more afraid of his brother than the Konoha jonin.

"You three just be more careful. If anything like this happens again, then you will die, no matter who your father is, got it?" Two of them nodded fearfully while the red head just stared at him blankly.

Deciding to keep an eye on these three, Naruto picked up Konohamaru and vanished.

Temari slowly broke out of her stupor and breathed a sigh of relief. _'That was close'_ she thought. She was about to berate Kankuro for his foolishness when another thought hit her,_'that jonin looked really familiar. Where have I seen him before?_'

"It's ….him," she suddenly exclaimed with surprise.

* * *

At the Konoha academy, hidden from all eyes Naruto watched the genin. He had arranged to be a co-proctor with Anko for the second exam. His wolves already littered the forest and his Root were in position. Ibiki had already been ordered to pass the Sound genin no matter what. Extending his senses he quietly assessed the genin. Unlike his own exam, there were few standouts. Gaara of the Desert was certainly one of them: his chakra levels and bloodlust was like a beacon to Naruto's advanced senses_, 'Ooh Sasuke-chan's team is here,' _he thought. The Uchiha made his way casually into the exam room. Out of all of the rookies, only he and Shikaku's kid, Shikamaru, had any chance of graduating. Sasuke, because Naruto had helped teach him himself, and while he was certainly no genius like his brother, he was certainly very skilled. Shikamaru he knew, from Asuma's bragging, had an IQ over 200, which outshone even his own. The blond watched as the rookie 9 gathered together, and from sheer nerves started bickering. They were approached by an older Konoha genin with silver hair and glasses and Naruto leaned closer to hear what was said.

"I'm Kabuto," said the genin. "You rookies should be careful; you don't want to stand out too much in a place like this." Reaching into his pockets he pulled out a deck of cards." Since you are fellow Konoha-nin, and rookies at that, how about I help you guys out? These are my ninja info cards. They contain information about Ninja from all over the world. Strengths, weaknesses, everything I could dig up."

"What do you have on Naruto Uzumaki," asked Sasuke eagerly.

The older genin looked surprised. "Naruto Uzumaki: S-class ninja and youngest Jonin in Konoha's history. He specializes in speed and Genjutsu, and has a bounty of over 160 million ryo. Hmm this is strange."

"What is?" asked Shikamaru, curious despite himself.

"Well it doesn't really list a reason for the bounty, only that he's wanted alive in Iwa, for the desecration of the Tsuichikage's office. Wonder what he did."

High above them, Naruto stifled a laugh. _'Looks like that old goat still hasn't forgiven me.'_

Suddenly a deep pulse coursed through his arm looking down in surprise he noticed his Uzumaki Seal was glowing a bright red. _'There must be an Uzumaki here,'_ he thought. Extending his sensor abilities, he began searching for the distinctive Uzumaki vitality.

Finally he noticed a pretty red headed girl, with deep red eyes covered by thin glasses.

She was wearing a hidden grass forehead protector and was looking around frantically as if searching for something_. 'Can she sense me?_' the blond wondered before masking his presence even further. Ibiki soon showed up and began the first exam, so Naruto was prepared to relax when he felt it: malicious chakra, extremely well-hidden but still emitting a small presence. It appeared to be coming from one of the female grass genin. Upon closer inspection, he discovered that the woman was emitting two different chakra signatures, and possessed chakra levels much higher than that of even a jonin.

Deciding to keep an eye on the woman, he remained hidden when Anko made her big entrance. Luckily the purple haired woman was a professional and showed no surprise when her partner didn't show up.

* * *

She lead the genin to the forest of death and Naruto slipped in once the second exam had begun. He began following the grass genin, but to his shock the woman sunk into the ground and disappeared. The blond cursed and was making his way through the forest following the rapidly fading chakra signature, when suddenly the seal on his arm heated up. He stopped his trek and glanced down and noticed that the seal was now flickering green, which meant that an Uzumaki was nearby and in serious danger. Cursing again, he extended his senses and in a flash of yellow appeared next to a screaming Karin who was running from an enormous bear. Naruto summoned his sword and in one smooth motion, sliced the bear in half.

"Are you ok?" he asked the crying girl, who suddenly launched herself into his arms. "It's ok, you're safe now," he reassured her. "What's your name?"

"Karin. Karin Uzumaki. Who are you?"

"Naruto Uzumaki, head of the Uzumaki clan," he grinned at her shock. "This seal on my arm, notifies me whenever an Uzumaki is nearby and in trouble. It's a good thing I was close by; a pretty girl like you would be wasted as bear food."

Karin blushed. "So what happens now?"

"Well, I'm looking to rebuild the Uzumaki clan," he paused when Karin turned scarlet and began poking her fingers together. "But seeing as you're in the middle of the chunin exams, perhaps we should talk later."

Karin was about to agree when a large wolf suddenly appeared in the trees. Karin was about to ready a kunai and throw it, when the beast talked. "Naruto-sama we have a problem, the wolves you sent to watch Sasuke Uchiha have been dispelled. Apparently they were attacked by several snakes."

"Damn! Orochimaru must be in the forest. Fine. Shin, stay with Karin and guide her back to her team. She is an Uzumaki so keep her safe. I'll take care of Orochimaru."

Karin looked stunned at the casual way the blonde spoke about defeating the snake sannin, and was about to protest, when she felt his hand on her head. "Don't worry Karin-chan, everything will be fine." He smiled at her, causing the girl to blush yet again, before vanishing in a flash of yellow.

* * *

He reappeared on a tree branch a few yards away from where he sensed Sasuke's location. _'Good thing I had the forethought to litter the forest with Hirashin seals.'_

He bounded towards Sasuke, just in time to see the female grass ninja he was following earlier, escape from Sasuke's fire dragon and peel off her face to reveal a smirking snake sannin. An unconscious Sai was slumped against a nearby tree, while Sasuke's pink haired teammate seemed to be trembling next to him

"Such a pity, Sasuke-kun," taunted the Sannin. "Itachi was so much stronger at your age."

Sasuke gritted his teeth and launched a series of kunai at the grinning man, which were batted away easily.

Orochimaru extended his head to give Sasuke the cursed seal, when suddenly a sword arced through the air and sliced off the Sannin's tongue. The man nearly screamed in outrage, but as his tongue grew back, he merely looked around for his attacker. Sensing something he twisted to the left, avoiding a fire dragon that barely grazed his neck, but receiving a spin kick to the head that slammed him into a tree. Uninjured he righted himself easily and glared at his opponent. Tall, blonde, and with a familiar sardonic grin. "Minato Namikaze? No it can't be, you must be the kyuubi container… Naruto."

"Naruto Uzumaki at your service. Nice to meet you Orochi-chan… now die," in a burst of speed, Naruto punched the sannin in the stomach and in a continuous motion attempted to cut the traitor's head off.

His sword was parried by Orochimaru's own blade, which was lodged in his throat. Summoning a mass of snakes to attack the blond, the sannin used the seconds before the blond eviscerated the snakes with wind blades, to draw the kusanagi from his mouth.

"Sasuke, take your teammates and get out of here," said Naruto before reaching into his flak jacket and a scroll to the Uchiha. "That's an earth scroll. Head to the tower, while I make myself a new snakeskin wallet." Sasuke nodded and grabbed Sai and Sakura and left.

"You'll pay for interfering in my plans boy." Naruto merely smirked before shooting forward. The two ninjas' blades crashed into each other, clashing and parrying back and forth. Suddenly a series of fireballs launched towards the sannin, followed by several spears of earth and several dozen water bullets. Orochimaru weaved through the attacks; his body achieving a near boneless state as he easily dodged the attacks. He retaliated by shooting hundreds of snakes from his arms, each wielding a miniature Kusanagi in their mouths. "Wind blade whirlwind," called Naruto cutting the snakes into pieces before twisting and blocking a sneak attack from behind. He punched the sannin in the face and launched a brutal series of punches that disfigured the snake sannin's body grotesquely. The snake sannin merely shrugged off the vicious assault and launched a wave of fire at Naruto he merely dodged it with a body flicker and resumed his taijutsu assault. It was clear that the blond was both faster and more skilled in taijutsu and he pummeled and punted Orochimaru into several trees. The sannin had extraordinary resilience and was able to shrug off even the strongest physical attacks. Raising the Kusanagi the two ninjas' blades clashed together again.

"Mumyo Jinpu Ryu, Satsujin Ken" Said Naruto. The boy's sword glowed a pale blue and with a shout parried against the Kusanagi, "Shin."

Orochimaru braced himself when he heard the boy's words, but when nothing happened he merely grinned and slammed his sword towards the blonde again. To his surprise however, his sword cut straight through the boy. He felt a brief moment of elation, before his foe dissolved into a flurry of cherry blossoms.

A form appeared behind him and with a grin he sliced through his enemy, cursing when, yet again, he dissolved into cherry blossoms. Suspecting a genjutsu he formed a seal, "Kai," he yelled. Nothing happened at first, but then to his horror his own face appeared. Ancient and rotted with age. He formed the dispelling technique again and again to no avail but each time it merely made the figure come closer.

The sannin screamed in horror and pain as a sword cut through his arm and pierced his chest. The figure before him disappeared and he realized with shock that he was bleeding profusely from his chest and his severed right arm lay next to him.

"What happened?" He screamed at the blonde.

Naruto merely glanced at him, blue eyes cold.

"You saw it too didn't you?" he asked, sheathing his sword. "The Red Mirage."

Orochimaru's body started to bulge and, to Naruto's disgust, the man spit up another Orochimaru, fully healed and panting wildly. "You'll pay for this," the man vowed before sinking into the ground and vanishing.

Naruto sighed, and sensing the sannin had left the forest, vanished as well

* * *

Naruto left his office where the bodies of the three sound genin lay twisted and broken. Unfortunately the three knew nothing of value, and thus were disposed of accordingly.

He informed the Sandaime about his driving off of Orochimaru as well as the sannin's intended target, before doubling the guard on Sasuke and Mikoto. He then left to check in on Karin, who was ecstatic to see him. The two spent hours talking, getting to know family that they never had. Naruto hugged the girl hard and promised to come see her again soon, before heading to his next appointment. The full moon hung gloriously in the air, as Naruto bound across the Konoha rooftops, heading towards his rendezvous with Fenrir. The wolf sage had decided that Naruto was now ready to undergo the difficult training to be a sage, and with a month remaining before the chunin exam finals. The boy was ready to dive into training with full gusto. Suddenly a loud scream filled the air and Naruto was stunned to see Gaara of the Sand crushing a hapless Mist genin.

The redhead's eyes were filled with bloodlust and when he saw the blond, he grinned maniacally. "Naruto Uzumaki" he said, madness nearly slurring his words. "Are you here to kill me as well? I will prove my existence by slaughtering you. I will not cease to exist." A torrent of sand shot towards the surprised blond who dodged easily. Sand pooled out of the Suna ninja's gourd and formed waves that launched at incredible speeds towards Naruto who was barely able to cut through the dense sand with his sword.

"That's it Naruto Uzumaki. Show me your power. Mother will have your blood."

The sand suddenly sped up and Naruto was forced on the defensive dodging wave after wave of sand.

In a burst of speed he appeared before the genin and punched him hard across the face, cracking his sand armor and sending him flying into a nearby water tower.

The red head shuddered at the pain. "What's this feeling?" he screamed. "It hurts, mother. Is that my blood?" A surge of demonic energy coursed through the boy and his body was incased in a ball of sand. Sensing great danger from the ball, Naruto sped forward and grabbed it before disappearing in a flash of yellow, Gaara in tow.

They landed in a large sandy field outside of the village, and Naruto summoned a rasengan and tried to pierce the sand ball. His attack began to grind through it, until spears of sand formed all over the ball and shot towards him, lightly grazing his side.

Gaara reappeared from the sand ball, his face and right armed covered in sand and forming the shape of a tanuki and the pupil of his right eye had turned yellow.

**"Be careful brat,"** said Kurama suddenly.**"****This Boy is the container of Shukaku, the sand spirit."**

"_Hey Kurama,"_greeted the blond mentally while dodging a flurry of sand shuriken._"Haven't spoken to you in a long time. I thought you'd sleep forever at the rate you were going."_

"**Can the reunion speech, and dodge. The more of Shukaku's chakra this boy absorbs the harder it will be to attack him."**

Naruto merely grinned before flipping out of the way of more sand spears, and in a burst of speed launched a furious set of punches and kicks that left his fellow jinchuriki stunned. He attempted to finish things with a rasengan to the stomach. However, a wave of demonic chakra sent him flying.

"You continue to impress me Naruto Uzumaki," grinned the mad genin. He began gathering more and more sand and demonic chakra. The sand formed behind him until he took on the form of an enormous 60ft raccoon. The redhead slowly rose out of the sand and formed seals. "False sleep technique," the boy's eyes rolled in the back of his head, to be replaced with the black eyes and yellow pupils of Shukaku. "I'm finally free," beamed the demon, before using his enormous tail to slap Naruto away.

He sent several large wind bullets shooting after the blond, who summoned some of Kurama's chakra and blocked them with enormous water bullets. _"Wow that takes a lot out of me,"_ said Naruto to Kurama. _"A__ny advice for breaking through his attacks?"_

"**In this form, Shukaku will recover from any physical attack… your only chance is to wake up the jinchuriki, that should end the technique."**

"_Easier said and done."_ cursed the blond as he dodged another set of wind bullets that ripped apart several trees behind him. "Wind style:wind blade whirlwind," he called.

And the hundreds of wind blades managed to sever one of the tanuki's arms before it regenerated. Naruto summoned dragons of water and fire and used the combined elemental pressure to form a giant steam attack. The scalding water tore a hole through the giant demon, but like the arm it regenerated. Summoning his sword, he tossed several hirashin kunai towards Shukaku and appeared in a flash of yellow on top if the tanuki's body. The very sand beneath him surged forth to attack him, but with a wind chakra enhanced blade he was able to cut away the dense sand.

"Mumyo Jinpu Ryu, Satsujin Ken," he said and his sword glowed blue. "Mizuchi Shin."

Shukaku found himself immersed in a world of white. Empty. An endless void that threatened to consume the demon's mind. In the outside world a large blade of wind arced through the demon's body and cut it in half, sending it falling towards the ground. Normally the demon would merely regenerate but trapped in the red mirage he wasn't conscious enough to control his own chakra.

The sleeping form of Gaara appeared out of the demon's fallen body and with a hard punch that shook Shukaku out of the mirage, Gaara began to wake up.

**"Nooo,"** screamed the demon. **"****I just got out here."**

"You heard it too, didn't you?" asked Naruto, sheathing his sword. "The voice of the Wind." With a groan Gaara returned and looked at the blond in horror.

"I will not die," he groaned. "I will not cease to exist. Father's assassins have failed to end my existence and so will you." With a scream he launched his sand towards Naruto; who vanished in a flash of yellow and landed a spin kick that sent Gaara crashing into a tree.

"Gaara, I'm sure your life has been hell," said the blond walking slowly towards the fallen genin "I sympathize with you. However, as future Hokage I cannot allow you to harm the people of my village."

"I do not understand," mumbled the redhead. "Why would someone as strong as you care about anyone's existence other than your own?"

"Because the leaf village is my home. My friends are here." He let out a mischievous grin. "Plus the women are simply gorgeous." Gaara looked confused and simply stared when the Blond picked him up. "Are you going to kill me," he asked calmly.

Naruto laughed, "Nah. Guys like us should stick together. We'll fight again sometime. You're pretty strong for someone your age."

Naruto carried the genin to the hospital and was about to leave when Gaara stopped him.

"Naruto Uzumaki," he asked hesitantly. "Can we be friends?"

Naruto Grinned. "Sure." With a silent wave he vanished. Gaara stared after him for a moment, before his lips curved into a small smile.

* * *

The rest of the month passed by quickly. Naruto threw himself into his senjutsu training and after a month was able to use it for a full five minutes before his natural chakra ran out. However he discovered that his clones could gather nature chakra as well, which allowed him to fight as hard as he wanted without having to pause and gather the special chakra. He had finished his preparations for the invasion, as he finally knew who Orochimaru's allies were. After Gaara had gotten out of the hospital he informed his new friend of the approaching attack. Naruto couldn't believe his luck as apparently Gaara was meant to be used as a sort of trump card during the invasion and he was now on his side. With his men in position, there was nothing else but to wait, and he spent his spare time growing closer to Karin and visiting his other lovers.

To his great shock, Gaara's sister Temari had cornered him at Ichiraku's a week before the finals and kissed him ravenously. After a few minutes of her and Ayame's blushes, as well as Temari's prodding, he finally remembered that Temari was the girl he met in Suna all those years ago. Ayame poured some sake and joined them as the two caught up, and a few hours later, Naruto was trying frantically to open his apartment door while kissing the two girls. The next day he grinned and thanked Kami as he made his way to the hot springs to relax. When he got there he spotted an old man with silver hair and a giant scroll on his back, peeping through a hole into the women's side of the springs. This would not be unusual, except the man was sitting on the head of a large toad. Exhausted, Naruto ignored the pangs in his head that told him he should recognize the man, and with an evil grin and a flash of yellow kicked the man off the toad and sent him flying into the women's hot springs. He laughed uncontrollably as a great surge of killing intent seeped into the air, followed by shouts of feminine fury and screams of male pain.

"_Life is good,'_ thought the blond.

* * *

Naruto wiped his blurry eyes. He was in an extravagant hotel room, lying in a huge bed. To his right was the beautiful red haired and voluptuous figure of Mei. To his left was the familiar raven hair of her bodyguard, Haku. The two had gotten into town the night before and happy to see their favorite blond as they dragged him to their room.

Knowing his lovers were exhausted, the blond quietly made his way from the hotel and headed to the arena where the Chunin exam finals were well underway.

He watched as Shikamaru, defeated Temari, and then gave up. When it was Gaara's turn to fight, Naruto was instantly impressed. It looked like his fellow demon container had trained hard over the last month. He batted Sasuke's attacks away with ease and with a quick switch with a sand clone, managed to avoid being skewered by the boy's Chidori.

Suddenly a wide scale genjutsu attempted to encase the audience. Naruto broke it with nary a thought and fired the signal to begin in the air.

All around the village, teams of Anbu attacked the surprised forces of Suna and Oto. Root tore through attackers with extreme ease as the enemy ninja were so caught off guard that their enemy was prepared for them, that it was nearly a complete rout.

Scores of chunin and jonin emerged from hidden areas to attack enemy summoning teams. A large purple barrier appeared around the Hokage's box and Naruto noticed that the Kazekage was actually Orochimaru in disguise. Knowing the old man could take care of himself; Naruto gathered his chakra and summoned a small army of his wolves. "You guys go and help out anyone you see struggling. Kill any enemy stragglers you see."

When the wolves left, he vanished in a burst of speed into the stands where the genin were waiting with their sensei. The Konoha jonin were easily slaughtering the attacking Oto jonin despite being out numbered, however Naruto decided to speed things up and in a burst of yellow slaughtered all 40 of the attacking jonin in seconds.

"Everyone ok here?" he asked.

"Yosh," said Gai excitedly. "Naruto-sama's flame of youth is simply exploding."

"We are good," said Kakashi, covering his Sharingan eye back up. "Was that the Hirashin?"

Naruto merely Grinned. "Ok, send your genin to help guard the remainder of the evacuating civilians. Kakashi, you and Gai team up and head over to the west entrance. Asuma, you join Ibiki and help take care of the summoned snakes in the east district. Kurenai I need you with me."

The jonin did as they were told. Naruto and Kurenai body flickered to the top of the Hokage monument. Hundreds of shinobi battled down below. Naruto handed Kurenai a bunch of his special kunai. "Here. Toss these at the enemy as fast as you can."

A few seconds later hundreds of the kunai flew over the battlefield and in a series of yellow flashes; Naruto cut a bloody swathe throw the attacking ninja, cutting and stabbing, until every inch of his orange jacket was covered in blood. In less than five minutes over two hundred enemy shinobi were dead. This scene repeated itself twice more, and it by the time Jiraiya arrived and defeated the snake summons with a giant toad, the blond Uzumaki was exhausted and out of chakra. The Suna ninja sounded the retreat, and ran as if the very hounds of hell were after them all the while screaming about the yellow flash's return

* * *

Orochimaru cursed as he dodged the staff of Enma wielded by his former teacher. He had used the impure resurrection technique to summon the first and second Hokages, and with their combined strength, was sure he could crush the Hokage. However Hiruzen was not as old and tired as he had thought, and it took all of his considerable skill not to be fried by his sensei's combination jutsu or beaten too a pulp by his enemy. The Senju brothers worked with incredible teamwork and managed to keep the old man on the ropes. Hashirama summoned droves of trees to attack the venerable third Hokage while his brother launched powerful water jutsu that flooded the entire battlefield. The second Hokage managed to capture Hiruzen in his bringer of darkness jutsu. However his successor's well-honed instincts allowed him to block the simultaneous strikes the two brothers made. Finally he summoned two shadow clones and using the reaper death seal, managed to seal the souls of the men inside of his shadow clones. He then renewed his attacks on Orocimaru, batting away the Kusanagi's strikes with Enma, and launching deadly jutsu that kept his ex-student on the ropes.

A giant fire dragon shot towards Orochimaru, who twisted out of the way, only to curse as hundreds of shuriken shot towards him. Blocking them with the Kusanagi he was forced to replace himself with an earth clone, when a huge black staff sunk into his head.

Suddenly strong hands grabbed him from behind and slammed him into the ground, and stripping the Kusanagi from his hands. He gazed into the determined eyes of his teacher and cursed when he was unable to move his arms.

"Your foolishness is unparalleled my disciple," said the old man sadly. "This is a justu even you haven't seen before."

"Let me go you foolish old man. I'll kill you."

"You won't be killing anyone again, my foolish student. It all ends here." He smiled down at the snarling snake Sannin. "I'm grateful you have come; I can remove my final regret, of not killing you years ago when I had a chance. All of the lives you have twisted since then fall on my head."

"Curse you, you feeble old man."

"Farewell my student, may we meet again in the next world." With a surge of chakra the death god removed Orochimaru's soul and sealed it into the Sandaime's body.

The backlash shattered the purple barrier and knocked the members of the sound 4 unconscious.

Enma reformed into his ape form and sadly picked up the fallen Kage. "A fitting end for the god of shinobi." He smiled and set the Hokage's hat on the man's head. "Farewell old friend."

Hour's later scores of Leaf ninja gathered sadly around their fallen Hokage. Naruto bowed deeply to his mentor and surrogate grandfather, picking up the Hokage's hat he placed it on his head. Koharu and Homura, the Sandaime's teammates bowed deeply. "Hail Naruto Uzumaki, Godaime Hokage."

The gathered Ninja all bowed deeply. "Bury the dead and light a great pyre to send a message to the elemental nations. The Great Tree still stands. The bark may have been bruised, a few branches lost, But our roots are deep, and we will grow bigger and stronger than ever."

The crowd burst into cheers and slowly they left, carrying the third Hokage's body to its final resting place. Unseen a figure with silver hair and glasses appeared out of the shadows. Picking up the forgotten Kusanagi blade, he stood over Orochimaru's remains and with an evil grin merged them into his body before vanishing.

_A.N. This chapter was difficult to write so hope you guys enjoyed it._

_Next chapters some secrets are revealed and bonds forged through battle will be tested._

_Orochimaru is dead. I never understood in canon how he could use his arms in canon. Sarutobi didn't cut his arms off, he sealed their soul. There's no healing that no matter what body you jump into._

_The sword techniques Naruto used are from Samurai Deeper Kyo, and I thought they would fit well here._


	12. Chapter 12

A.N warning this chapter contains a lot of adult language so if you are sensitive….just suck it up.

* * *

Naruto tipped toed through the annoying creaky house. It was actually a fairly normal dwelling considering who it belonged to, but then again Anko was virtually nothing like her public persona. She did have an active imagination however, and with Kurenai's help managed to give the blond a rigorous workout. The two were currently fast asleep, Naruto would have loved to be with them, however Hokage have no business hours, and he received an urgent missive from Ibiki. Reaching the kitchen and wincing at the suspicious stains on the countertop, as well as the plethora of sake bottles that littered the floor, he gathered the rest of his gear and disappeared in a flash of yellow.

* * *

"What do you have for me?" he asked Ibiki, idly grabbing a sweet roll from a box on the special jonin's desk.

"We have been interrogating Orochimaru's accomplices, but haven't had much luck. They seem to be fanatically loyal to him, and refuse to believe he is dead."

He led the blond Hokage down a dark corridor that was riddled with heavy steel doors and smelled strongly of metal and blood. "We have them separated and restrained with seals to prevent chakra use."

"If the guys are Orochi-chans bodyguards then physical torture isn't going to be effective." Stated the blond as they made their way towards fours isolated cells near the end of the corridor. Suddenly the seal on his arm began to burn and started to turn red.

_"Hmm an Uzumaki must be nearby and extremely pissed off from the looks of things."_

Suddenly there was a loud crash and a scream of pain. One of the cell doors slammed open and the body of a hapless chunin flew out. A pretty girl with vibrant red hair and a perpetual scowl ran out of the room shedding a pair of seals, and clutching a blood stained knife. She spotted Ibiki and with surprising grace flipped and landed a kick against the surprised interrogator. She whistled and a loud piercing sound cut through both men's ears. Naruto recognized the sound-based genjutsu and dispelled it with ease, however Ibiki wasn't so lucky and the girl's powerful legs wrapped around his neck and with a thump she slammed him into the ground, knocking him unconscious..

"Out of the way shithead," she growled at the blond, who was barely able to hide his amusement. _'She must be the Uzumaki I sensed,"_ he thought before deciding to play along with things. "I'm just an assistant," he said raising his hands up in a 'don't hurt me' gesture. He reached into his pouch and removed his kunai, and handed it to the girl, while stealthily applying a hirashin seal to her clothes.

"If you cooperate, you fucking piece of trash, I'll let you keep your life, now tell me how to get the fuck out of here."

"Security is tight back towards the entrance; however, if we head back down the corridor there is a opening to the roof, where the chunin take their smoke breaks."

The redhead pocketed the boy's kunai and held one to his back. "Lead the way, shithead."

Naruto led the way down the corridor, waving off the hidden ANBU with a subtle shake of the head. "So what's your name kunoichi-san?" he asked meekly.

"Tayuya…Now shut up, shithead, and keep moving."

"I'm Naruto. What do you plan to do when you escape Ms. Tayuya? It's hard to believe a guy like Orochimaru could have such loyal followers."

"You're a nosy bastard," the girl grunted before sighing. "Hell no, I hate that snake worshiping asshole."

"So why return to him? I assure you he's dead and can no longer hurt you, and if you give up some information, I'm sure the Hokage would be lenient."

The red head snorted, "Bullshit, the moment we said anything, that fucker would slit our throats. Besides I know that snake bastard is still alive."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. Nonchalantly he turned and faced the scowling girl, "You know, you're too cute to be scowling like that, why don't you smile more?"

Tayuya blushed before smacking the boy hard over the head. "S-shut up Shithead," she mumbled much to Naruto's amusement.

They reached the end of the corridor and jumped through the small skylight leading up to the roof.

"So Tayuya-chan, what makes you so sure, Orochi-teme is still alive?"

The girl looked flustered at the semi term of endearment before frowning and smacking him again. "Who said you could call me that, shithead? Turning her head to the side so he couldn't see her blush, she responded, "Because we still have our cursed seals. When the bastard put them on us years ago, he told us that as long as the seals were on our body he would survive."

"Interesting," stated the blond before appearing behind Tayuya in a burst of speed.

The girl was shocked at his speed and nervous about the close proximity. She felt his cool breath on her neck as he examined her seal, and felt a small shiver course through her body. _"Fuck, if he wasn't so hot."_ she thought, before shaking her head and punching him in the shoulder.

"What are you doing, Nar-shithead," she asked.

"Dissecting your seal, it really is complicated. I feel the faint traces of nature chakra in its design; it will be difficult for me to remove."

"Remove?" she asked in surprise. "You can remove it?"

Naruto laughed. "Of course, I am an Uzumaki after all, seals are my specialty."

"Uzumaki?" mumbled the girl, before her eyes widened in horror.

"The Naruto Uzumaki?" she exclaimed. "S-class ninja and all around bad ass?"

"At your service," smirked the blond, bowing dramatically.

Tayuya dropped her kunai in horror; she had no chance against this man.

"Are you going to kill me?" she asked, resigned to her fate.

"Of course not. You told me what I wanted to know, and besides it'd be a shame to kill such a pretty girl." he grinned at the return of her blush. "Besides I'm head of the Uzumaki clan, and it appears you are an Uzumaki descendent. Therefore it is my duty to look after you."

Tayuya looked stunned. "So you think you can convince the Hokage not to execute me?"

"Well I should hope so. He is me after all." This appeared to be too much for the first girl and in a manner uncharacteristic of her, fainted into the blond's arms.

Naruto grinned and idly curled a strand of her vibrant red hair around his finger. _'I still got it.'_

* * *

After Tayuya awoke and violently threatened to castrate him with a rusty spoon if he ever told anyone about her passing out, the two made their way to the Hokage tower where he got her breakfast and questioned her about all she knew about Orochimaru, especially in regards to the man's spies in the village.

The list was not as long as Naruto had feared, however one name in particular sent the blonde Hokage into a seething rage: Kabuto Yakushi. The silver-haired boy from the genin exams was not only the snake sannin's spy but his right hand man. He quickly sent summoned the ANBU and sent them to scour the village, but it soon became clear that the teenager was gone. Naruto immediately classified him as an S-class criminal to be killed on sight.

Other than the issues with Kabuto, things went quite well over the next few weeks.

Tayuya was put on probationary status for 6 months before becoming an official Konoha Shinobi. Naruto handled her assessment personally and it was clear she was at least jonin level. Her fellow members of the sound four were offered similar deals, but refused to renounce Orochimaru and were promptly executed.

Suna immediately declared that they had been duped by Orochimaru. Since there was no telling how long Orochimaru had been masquerading as the Kazekage he saw their point but made a point to stress that such actions would not be so easily forgiven again.

He probably would have forced the issue, but he knew that his new friend, Gaara, was now the strongest ninja in Suna and thus likely to become their next Kazekage, and so figured the matter would resolve itself.

The village itself had suffered serious damage to various buildings during the invasion and a multitude of wounded shinobi and civilians alike filled the hospital. The actual casualties were fairly low as his antics on the battlefield had left 300 dead and completely demoralized the invaders. Word had already spread to throughout the rest of the elemental nations and like his father he was given a 'flee on sight' distinction in the bingo book. . Mei gave him a steamy congratulations while berating him for wearing her out too much for her to assist in the battle. What could he say sometimes being a jinchuriki had its perks. One thing was unavoidable and that was the cost of repairing the village. The blond sent word to Toki and Koyuki and after a hot and heavy meetings via Hirashin, the two agreed to not only send emergency supplies to the Leaf village but also pledged to come and meet with the fire daimyo to discuss alliances with Fire Country. Indeed once word of Naruto's promotion as the Fifth Hokage was announced, all of his old friends sent offers of aide. Tazuna, former bridge builder and now chief elder of the Land of Waves, pledged to send his most skilled craftsmen to aid in the rebuild, while Haruka vowed to send food. Needless to say the legacy of fire was brighter than ever.

* * *

"Naruto idly righted the Hokage symbol on his hat as he made his way out of his latest meeting with the council. He informed them of the truth behind the Uchiha Massacre as well as Itachi's ongoing S-class mission and eventual return. A few members were upset they hadn't been informed before but grudgingly admitted that things made more sense now.

Naruto jumped through trees and made his way towards the Hokage tower, where a familiar old man with long gray hair and a large scroll on his back was waiting.

"Wait, you're the pervert from the hot springs," exclaimed the blond in surprise. He grinned when the man look affronted. "So you were the brat who ruined my research…seems you take after your mother more than I realized."

Naruto snorted. "Suck it up Ero-sennin. How was I supposed to know that a pervert like you was the Great Jiraiya?"

The Toad Sage looked a bit put out before grinning, "I'm not just a pervert, brat. I'm a Super Pervert." He pulled out several orange colored books, "Perhaps you've read my work?"

Naruto laughed. "Nope But JiJi was a big fan."

The two ninja had a quiet moment for the fallen legend.

"So what did you call me here for?" asked Jiraiya.

"I need your help finding your wayward teammate."

"Tsunade," exclaimed the Sannin in surprise. "She was granted roving status and she doesn't wish to return the village."

"The Sandaime was too easy on her, dark times lie ahead and it is here duty to return here whether she likes it or not. If she refuse I will name her a missing-nin and kill her myself." Jiraiya was about to snort at this claim, when he remembered what he had heard about the blond's encounter with Orochimaru.

"Very well, I'll track her down immediately." The sannin gulped. _"Let's hope she doesn't kill me,"_ he turned to leave when a loud cough stopped him.

"I will be going with you, Ero-sennin," stated the blond.

"What? But you are the Hokage. You must remain in the village."

"There is another matter I must attend to and it must happen outside the village. Besides I can be here in an instant if necessary, with Hirashin."

"I heard the rumors but I didn't believe them. How did you learn that technique anyway?"

Naruto merely grinned. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

* * *

The two set out the next day and moved at a breakneck pace. Finally after several hours they made it to Prodesto, a small village on the border of Fire Country.

Jiraiya was immediately distracted by a gorgeous brunette who smiled flirtatiously at him and sauntered away. The sannin immediately left to stalk or in his words gather research. Naruto decided that a little discretion was in order since his meeting wasn't until the next morning. Since someone was sure to recognize the Fifth Hokage, he surrounded himself in a henge. He still looked mostly the same, but his trademark whisker marks were gone and his hair was now a dull brown. Donning a pair of fake glasses, the disguise was complete.

Naruto made his way to the nearest hotel and, after getting a room, left to find the nearest ramen stand. He finally found one an hour later and immediately ordered a dozen bowls. He was halfway through his third bowl when she walked in.

She wore red lipstick, and her skin was pale and lovely. Her eyes were dark and mysterious and her hair was an unusual light blue and pulled back into a pony tail. She wore a dark red suit underneath a vibrant green dress that clung gently to her impressive curves. She didn't acknowledge him merely glanced around the stand as if looking for somebody.

"Can I help you" he asked motioning to the empty seat next to him.

She studied him for a minute before reluctantly sitting down.

"I'm looking for a certain man," she said tersely. "A famous ninja who took away something very important to me."

"Well I just got into town myself so I can't say I've seen any famous shinobi. How about you, old man?" the old man running the stand shook his head.

The woman's eyes hardened in frustration and she made to leave when a strong hand lightly gripped her arm. She turned to see the heartwarming grin of the man beside her.

"C'mon you look, exhausted. At least do me the pleasure and allow me to buy you a drink," he motioned the old man to bring them a bottle of sake, and skillfully maneuvered the woman into sitting down. She was about to argue and punch the young man in the face when something in his eyes, hidden behind those dreadful glasses, stopped her.

Slightly pouting, she accepted the saucer of sake he handed her.

"My name is Minato," said the man, calmly sipping his sake. "Would you like some miso ramen?" Before she could answer, he motioned the old man who started on her order with a grin.

She gave him a small glare but much to her annoyance he merely smiled and offered her some more sake.

Her ramen arrived a few minutes later, and the delicious smell wafting from the bowl instantly cooled her ire towards him. "My name is Guren," she said finally before digging into her food.

"So what did this mysterious ninja take from you?" he asked once she finished, pouring yet another glass of sake.

"My master. The man I admired and who gave me a purpose."

Naruto sighed. "That's a shame. It is a sad truth that no matter who they are, everyone is important to someone. The way of shinobi is harsh and by its very nature destroys the very bonds that we strive so hard to protect. An endless waltz of attacks and counterattacks, revenge and counter revenge. The cycle continues until eventually no one knows the original reason for the conflict. You will take revenge on the one who took your precious person and his precious people will take revenge upon you. I would not see this world of our destroyed in such a way."

Guren was entranced despite herself. "So how would you change the world?" She asked curiously sipping another glass of sake.

Naruto smiled at her, "With love. My grandfather told me once, when I was a child, that only through love and understanding could we truly achieve peace."

**_Flashback_**

_A four year old Naruto made his way passed the Hokage's secretary and entered his Jiji's office. He found the man slumped in his chair, arguing with an old woman, he vaguely remembered his jiji saying was his old teammate. Whatever they were arguing about, the strange woman seemed to be winning, as the Hokage slumped further into his chair and shot the woman slightly fearful looked as she made violent gestures with her hand._

_Finally the woman left, shooting the blond a look that had him scurrying behind his surrogate grandfather. "Who was the scary lady, jiji?" he asked, while leaping on the man's desk._

_"Koharu, my old teammate. Remember this Naruto-kun: Women are scary and no matter what title you have or how much authority you possess, they will always get their way."_

_"That doesn't seem fair Jiji. Can't you just avoid the mean ones?"_

_"No it's not," agreed the old man, wincing over the lost of yet another one of his orange books. "But you can't avoid it as they always agree with each other when it comes to making a man's life hell."_

_H__e sighed. "One day you will understand, my boy, that the only way to achieve peace is to making every woman around you happy." Naruto was puzzled and it wasn't until a year later when he accidentally read one of his jiji's orange books that he understood. The only way to achieve piece and understand women was to love them._

**_E_****_nd flashback_**

Guren flushed and smiled at the passion in his voice. "Your grandfather sounds like a wise man, Minato-kun."

The two sat and drank for awhile, and as Guren didn't have a hotel yet, Naruto lead her to his hotel room. He was about to make a pallet on the floor when the beautiful woman suddenly kissed him and to his surprise pushed him on the bed. With a grin he allowed her to maneuver him, thinking to himself that achieving peace was a lot of fun.

* * *

Kabuto sauntered through the Hidden Sound's main base.

Everything was going according to plan. Because of the scattered way Otagakure was structured it had been extremely easy for him to take control of the various bases. His work on curing Kimmimaro's illness was yielding dividends and with his promise to avenge Orochimaru's death, the bone user had agreed to follow him. With Kimimaro's loyalty he would be able to tame Jugo and scour any of the remaining bases for useful shinobi. Unfortunately the attack on Konoha had wiped out most of Oto's relatively small force of ninja, mostly due to the efforts of that blond menace. The glasses wearing man grimaced. It had been a shame to waste Guren's talents on what was almost assuredly a suicide mission but he had no choice. The woman was furious when she heard Orochimaru was dead and had accused him of being a traitor. As reluctant as he was to admit it, the woman was stronger than him, even with Orochimaru's power flowing through his veins, so he was forced to redirect her anger towards the new Hokage and informed her of where his spies said he might be visiting soon.

_"Who knows,"_ he thought as he made his way into his lab. _"Perhaps she'll have a chance."_

The blond's relationships with several of Konoha's most attractive women was well known , so perhaps the cold woman's beauty would allow her the opportunity to get close enough for the kill.

Gathering his notebook he let out a cruel laugh.

He would go further than even Orochimaru had dared and soon his vengeance against those who had taken his mentor would be complete.

* * *

A knock upon the door roused Naruto from his peaceful slumber. He groggily opened his eyes and noticed he was curled around a surprisingly clingy Guren who snored lightly and held the arm wrapped around her possessively.

"Go away Ero-sennin," he mumbled before lightly kissing his partner's neck and and attempting to fall back asleep.

The knock persisted and, grudgingly, Naruto removed himself from Guren's warmth.

"What is it," she asked sleepily, her hands instinctively curling around a hidden kunai under her pillow.

"Just an annoying old man," said the disguised blond before tossing on some boxers and angrily opening the door.

"What is it you old pervert," he grumbled before gazing into the amused sharingan-induced eyes of his best friend. "If you tell anyone about this, I'm telling Yugao about the time you peeked on her in the shower," Naruto stated calmly before noticing the man with his friend. Standing at over 7 feet and carrying an enormous cloth covered sword was the pale blue skin of Hoshigaki Kisame.

"Hello, Naruto-kun," greeted the Uchiha with a grin. "What's with the disguise?"

"I almost forgot" said the blond removing the henge and shedding the glasses, "I didn't want to be hounded so I decided a disguise would be appropriate."

"It suits you."

"Thanks."

Kisame looked confused at the easy byplay between the men, and was about to intercede when an incredible killing intent filled the room.

In Naruto's excitement about seeing his friend he had forgotten his bedmate who looked furious that the man she slept with was not who he said he was.

She gathered her clothes, tossed on her dress and was about to confront and possibly castrate him when his name finally sunk in. "Did you say Naruto? As in Naruto Uzumaki the Fifth Hokage?"

Remembering his bedmate and noticing the dangerous look on her face as well as the almost palatable level of killing intent, he merely nodded cautiously.

"I see," was all she said before dozens of crystal shuriken launched towards the surprised blond.

"I'll kill you, you deceitful bastard," she screamed forming a crystal sword and attempting to removed the Uzumaki's head. Itachi and Kisame looked stunned as they watched the beautiful woman chase the boxer clad blond around the hotel room with her sword. Finally Naruto jumped through the open window followed by the furious woman.

"Itachi," said the Kiri swordsman, a bead of sweat falling down his face as he watched his target narrowly dodged a few crystal daggers to the crotch.

"Yes Kisame?" said the Uchiha, torn between worry and amusement with his friend.

"I'm Scared." Admitted the shark-like man as Guren continued her attempt to emasculate the blond Hokage.

"Me too."

* * *

Naruto barely dodged a crystal dragon and cursed as the cold wind sent a shiver through his nearly naked body.

"Calm down Guren-chan," he yelled only to receive a wave of crystal javelins headed his way for his trouble. "I didn't mean to deceive you! I just didn't have a chance to tell you who I was. Why are you so angry?"

"Why?" screamed the woman, launching twin crystal dragons at him and forming walls of crystal to block his escape. "I slept with the man who helped take **everything** from me. Now **die** you bastard!"

Naruto looked confused, before tossing a hirashin kunai and teleporting out of danger.

"You mean I was the guy you were looking for? What did I do?"

"You and your village took lord Orochimaru from me," yelled the woman as she launched dozens of crystal shuriken at him. When he dodged, she vanished in a burst of speed and trapped him in a crystal prison. Naruto used hirashin to escape and tried in vain to calm her down. "I swear I didn't know. Besides, Orochimaru attacked our village we had no choice but to kill him."

"I don't care," said Guren, angry tears leaking from her eyes." I have no one now. My purpose is gone and it's all your fault." Understanding, Naruto dodged her sword attacks and in a burst of speed gathered the woman in a hug. She fought back hard, raining punches on his back and attempting to knee him in the groin, but eventually her attacks subsided and she clutched him hard and sobbed. "Its ok Guren-chan," said Naruto soothingly. "You can come with me. I'll keep you happy, and eventually you will find your own purpose." The blue haired woman searched his face for any hint of deceit and finding none she merely fell into his embrace, a small smile finally gracing her face.

A loud Cough interrupted the tender moment.

The two lovers looked up to see Itachi and Kisame standing awkwardly to the side.

"You're coming with us Uzumaki," said the shark man finally, tightly gripping Samehada.

"Oh yeah…" Grinned the blond. "I almost forgot I have to deal with you."

"You're strong," the swordsman admitted, "but there's no way you're a match for both myself and Itachi."

"I'm afraid my friend that you are mistaken," said a voice from behind him.

Itachi had his Mangekyo activated and looked particularly grim.

"My loyalty has always been to the Leaf Village and to my best friend Naruto."

The Uchiha moved to stand by his friend.

"I know you despise this world of lies Kisame, and despite our initial conflict, you have been a good friend and partner through my years in the organization. I want you by our side. To join us in our vision of a better world."

Kisame looked shocked but then started to laugh. "You are truly the consummate shinobi," he admired. "To think you could fool even the man they call 'God.'"

He turned serious, "You are the second person to mention such a world to me. When I learned of his plans to end the treachery of this world, I agreed to join the Akatsuki, wanting to see his vision come true. I'm not the type to abandon my goals so easily." Swinging his sword around to point at his partner, he settled into a fighting stance, "So show me Itachi Uchiha. Show me your resolve to change this world."

Itachi was about to engage his former partner when a hand stopped him.

"Itachi let me handle this. This man is obviously a friend and I don't want the burden of defeating him to fall on you," said Naruto, summoning his sword.

In a burst of speed he cut a thin slit across the shark man's face. "Your battle is with me, Kisame."

Kisame unwrapped his sword, revealing its shark like mouth gleaming with teeth. "Bring it on, brat."

The two swords clashed in a burst of speed, but Naruto's arm started buckling under the Kiri missing-nin's monstrous strength. Instantly casting a series of powerful genjutsu to disorient the swordsman, he landed a flurry of punches and kicks to the shark man's body that he merely shrugged off, before releasing the genjutsu.

"Water style: Water Colliding Wave," a huge torrent of water flooded the area, creating a huge confined pool and leaving the gathered ninja standing on the water.

Several giant sharks shot from the water only to be cut apart by Naruto's sword. The two ninja rapidly shot through seals, and sent a torrent of water bullets and several water dragons crashing towards each other.

"Naruto vanished in a flash of yellow behind the Kiri Ninja and speedily cut a series of cuts across his body that began gushing with blood.

Kisame ignored the stinging pain and landed a powerful punch that sent Naruto flying. The blond recovered and in another flash of yellow slammed a rasengan into Kisame's back sending the man crashing into the water. Naruto began to notice however that his chakra was being drained. _"His sword is truly monstrous, its draining my chakra every time I come close to it."_

Kisame leapt from the water and healed himself using Samehada before launching a brutal series of punches and kicks that Naruto nimbly dodged. Several more sharks leapt from the water and in the time the blond took to deal with them, Kisame was able to land a hard kick that stunned the teenager before punching him brutally in the face, before a blade of wind shooting towards his neck made him back away.

The two eyed each other for a moment before trading blows furiously, Naruto landed a knee to Kisame's stomach which was returned with a punch to the face that left the blond's cheek bleeding. Naruto summoned a series of fireballs that Kisame blocked with his sword. He moved to cleave the boy in two but was blown back when the boy in front of him exploded, revealing a shadow clone. A deadly game of cat and mouse ensued as Kisame was attacked by many speedy assaults, and was blown back every time he attempted to retaliate. The teenaged shinobi merely switched with a shadow clone. Finally, the Akatsuki member had enough and summoned another water wave that popped every clone on the battlefield with a series of explosions.

Naruto emerged from the water, his blade glowing blue, "Mumyo Jinpu Ryu Ougi." a wave of wind shot towards kisame, holding him in place. "Seiryu."

Hundreds of wind blades shot around the Akatsuki member, cutting into his body, while the sheer force of the wind made it a hundred times more painful. The speed of the winds increased until Kisame was trapped in a whirlwind of wind blades shredding into his body. He saw the form of a blue dragon as Naruto jumped above the whirlwind and landed a rasengan to his stomach that slammed him towards the ground. The shark man screamed as the horrible pain tore through him. After a few minutes the attack ended, and Kisame lay bleeding profusely. "What was that?" he asked weakly.

Naruto merely stared grimly. "Can you feel the wrath of the dragon king?"

Kisame groaned and fell unconscious.

* * *

A few hours later, Itachi headed back to Konoha, carrying the wounded Kisame. Guren refused to leave Naruto's side and the two went to pull Jiraiya from the brothel he ended up in and resumed the search for Tsunade. A few days later they were in Tanzaku Gai, the premier gambling town in Fire Country. Jiraiya handed them a picture of his teammate and the three split up to find her.

Naruto gazed at the picture in surprise, as the person in it looked slightly familiar. Shaking his head he continued to search, before ending up at a seedy bar near the edge of town. A pretty brunette carrying a pig was sitting next to his target. Tsunade of the infamous Three Sannin was a gorgeous woman, with an enormous bust and silky blond hair; she wore a gray blouse and tan pants, covered by a green jacket with the word Gamble written on the back. She was calmly drinking sake when she noticed him come in.

"How you doing Tsunade-chan," exclaimed the blond sitting down at the surprised sannin's table. He turned to the medic-nin's companion and with a dashing smile asked, "Who are you miss?" Shizune blushed, "I'm Shizune, and you are?"

"Naruto Uzumaki, I've been looking for you two, I'm here to ask you guys to turn return to Konoha."

Tsunade was about to rage and refuse when she finally got a look at the blonde's face and turned scarlet. Naruto noticed and examined her closely. "You know, you look a lot like this really beautiful girl I met a year or so ago. Her Name was Tsu-chan and she was the worst poker player I ever met." He laughed, "I suppose that's impossible she's much younger than you are. Still I miss her a lot."

Shizune stared at her mentor who was turning red and refusing to meet her eyes.

**_Flashback_**

_A year ago the two medic-ninja had been on the run from Tsunade's creditors again. To avoid detection Tsunade changed her age, giving herself the appearance of a 18 year old. The two had winded up in Earth Country where a big poker tournament was taking place. Shizune had insisted that her mentor not participate, but the sannin gave her the slip and participated anyway. She had actually done quite well, contrary to her usual luck and made it to the semi finals, where a bored blond was cleaning house. Needless to say she lost and was drowning her sorrows with sake at the tournament bar when the blond sat beside her._

_"What's your name," he asked, motioning the bartender to bring them some more alcohol._

_"N__one of your business brat," she mumbled but to a drink of the offered sake anyway._

_"B__rat?" he asked. "We're nearly the same age."_

_"Yet you're annoying me, so you're still a brat." She said, enjoying the sheer cuteness of the blond's pouting._

_"F__or such a beautiful woman you sure are mean," he exclaimed, poking his tongue out._

_She laughed and despite herself, lightly blushed. She had been called beautiful countless times before, but only one man had mentioned her beauty in that fashion, as if it were a mere fact and not the sum of who she was._

_"Y__ou have a nice laugh," teased the blond. "There's no need for you to be so sad."_

_She looked stunned. "How did you know I was sad?" she asked curious despite herself._

_He grinned, "It's a special gift I gained through my training as a shinobi."_

_Immediately her good mood vanished. "Go away," she said, "I don't deal with ninja anymore."_

_"W__hy is that?" he asked noting the haunted look on her face._

_"It's__ none of your business. Now leave me alone before I pound you into fish paste."_

_"I__t hurts, doesn't it, to lose the ones we love," he said suddenly, cutting through her building __tirade. She looked at him in shock, wondering if he had seen through her disguise._

_"It's__ written all over your face," he explained. "The pain of losing someone; I Imagine they were very important to you."_

_"T__hey were my world," she said finally, before she knew it she was telling the story of her fiancé and brother's death._

_"I__ see." He said finally before pulling the surprised woman into a hug._

_"A__s a ninja of Konoha I'm sorry for your loss," he smiled at her. "However, you shouldn't curse the path they followed. Dan and Nawaki died pursuing their dreams, which is all we shinobi can ask for. To curse the path they followed is to belittle the very dream they worked so hard to attain. Honor their memory by continuing to live and attain yours." _

_Tsunade seemed to consider his words and finally returned the hug. " now" he said, handing her a glass of sake. _

_"T__o Dan and Nawaki," he toasted._

_Tsunade smiled fully for the first time in years. "You may call me Tsu-chan."_

_The two drank for several more hours and when Naruto offered to walk her home, she instead kissed him hard and followed him to his room at the local inn._

_When he awoke the next morning she was gone. Leaving only a note saying 'thank you'._

**_E_****_nd Flashback_**

"Are you sick Tsunade-chan?" he asked missing the accusing looks Shizune sent her mentor.

"No I'm fine," she said regaining her composure. "So why has the old man ordered my return?"

"I'm sorry to inform you, but Sarutobi-jiji died in a battle with Orochimaru."

The woman looked saddened before her eyes narrowed. "So I suppose they want me to be Hokage then?"

"No, the new Hokage has already been chosen."

"Who is it?" asked Shizune. "Its not Jiraiya is it?"

"That pervert would have every kunoichi wearing bikinis as a new uniform. If I decide to come back I'll have to beat some sense into him."

Naruto Laughed. "Ero-sennin would probably deserve it; however the fifth Hokage is actually me."

The two women looked stunned. But Tsunade finally laughed. "I suppose it is fitting. So why do you need me to return to the village?"

"We have a lot of wounded after the invasion, and I have decided that our medical facilities could use some improving. I think it would be good to have a competent medic in every squad and I could use your help.".

Tsunade seemed to consider this for several minutes before nodding. "Fine Naruto-kun I'll come back with you." The way she spoke his name sent a shiver up Naruto's body and he began examining her more closely. When he spotted the diamond seal on her forehead, his heart fluttered and in a burst of speed hugged the busty blond.

"It is you Tsu-chan," he exclaimed nuzzling the woman's chest. "You're mean. You could have told me you know. I never thought I'd see you again."

Tsunade sighed and hugged him back. "I missed you too Naruto-kun."

What ever they were going to say next was interrupted by a series of perverted giggles.

They turned to see a giggling Jiraiya holding a sketch pad and writing furiously and giggling perversely. "This is great stuff," he commented. "The young Hokage and the kinky MILF. My fans will love it."

A large tick mark appeared on Tsunade's face and a red aura of rage cloaked her body.

"Jiraiya, I'll kill you!" she yelled punching the Toad Sage in the face and sending him flying through a wall.

A.N.

Wow these chapters just seem to get bigger and bigger. Hope you guys enjoyed.

Next chapter: the return to Konoha and a three year time skip.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed or favorite this story and special thanks again to my lovely beta, Trowa no Miko for her wonderful advice and help.

'Til next time, Millennion


	13. Chapter 13

"Wow "said Naruto as he looked down at the mangled form of Jiraiya. The toad sannin had been punched through two walls before finally landing nearly a hundred yards away.

"You so have to teach me that, Tsu-chan," he said before poking the fallen old man with a stick. "You alive, Ero-sennin?"

"Of course, Brat," exclaimed the sannin, jumping up and looking none the worse for wear as he struck what he no doubt thought was a cool pose. "I am the gallant Jiraya. It'll take more than a punch from a sake sponge like Tsunade to take me out."

"A'sake sponge?'" said the disturbingly calm voice of his blond haired teammate, who began cracking her knuckles dangerously.

"Now wait a minute Tsu-" before he could finish, The busty blond had punched him even harder, sending him flying into the distance.

"That old fool will never learn," she muttered.

"Still, Tsunade-sama, perhaps you are being a bit harsh," stated Shizune.

"Nah, just consider it as a punishment for a time he peeped on us and got away with it. Now Naruto-kun were you serious about learning from me?"

"Yes," beamed the boy. "My fighting style focuses mainly on speedy attacks, knowing your strength technique would make my style even deadlier. Besides, I've come about as far as I can in most of the shinobi disciplines so learning medical ninjutsu would the perfect thing to work on next."

Tsunade looked excited. "Then I'll be happy to teach you. What about training with Jiraiya?"

He shook his head. "No, he mentioned it on the way here, but there really isn't much he can teach me. I've surpassed his knowledge of seals, and I have already mastered summoning and my father's techniques. He does owe me a spar though."

"Well if you are as strong as the rumors say, then maybe I'll to spar with you as well," teased Tsunade.

Naruto grinned, "Sure! As long as the winner gets to pick who's on top."

Tsunade blushed, much to her fellow blond's amusement, while Shizune merely giggled.

"Let's grab Ero-sennin and meet up with Guren-chan. I'll use Hirashin to get us back to Konoha instantly. "

As the three headed towards Jiraiya, curious looks passed between the two women. "Who's Guren?"

"She's my new friend. She was a servant of Orochimaru and was apparently sent to kill me, but she's really kind and a real dynamo in bed." The two women looked dumbfounded at each other.

"Doesn't it bother you that she tried to kill you?" asked Shizune hesitantly as they finally reached a gasping Jiraiya.

"Not really. Half the women I've been with have tried to kill me at one point in time. Plus things got a bit testy in Konoha awhile back…"

**_Flashback_**

_Naruto was blissfully eating his 13th bowl of ramen of which a blushing Ayame sent him with a smile. He paused to land a long grateful kiss on her lips, before resuming his feast._

_Suddenly he noticed a large surge of killing intent heading his way._

_Still chomping away he noticed a gaggle of familiar looking men looking at him dangerously._

_'Hmm quite a motley group. Let's see… Asuma, Hayate,Genma, Raido, … ooh is that Sasuke-chan? Isn't he supposed to be training for the chunin exam finals? Oh! And Kiba too...'Slurping up the last of his ramen, he turned to face them._

_"What's up guys," he asked happily, ignoring the combined glares of the men._

_"Nothing, Naruto-san. Would you accompany us, we have a few things to discuss with you."_

_Curious, he agreed and followed the small mob to a nearby training ground._

_"So what did you need to see me about?"_

_"Well, it has come to our attention that several of Konoha's most eligible kunoichi have been seen frequently in your company, and as several of them have turned down dates from members of this concerned party, we would like it to be known…officially…which one your girlfriend is," said Hayate, coughing lightly._

_"Stay away from my mom," yelled Sasuke suddenly, echoed soon after by Kiba who instructed the blond to stay away from his sister._

_"But I like Mikoto-chan, and she really likes me… why the last time I went over there she-" unable to bear thinking about what things his mom did with blond, Sasuke leapt at him, Lightning chakra coursing through his hand. In a burst of speed Naruto caught the boy's wrist and slammed him into the ground, following it up with a strong chop to the back of the head that knocked him unconscious._

_"Better luck next time, Sasuke-chan," he teased._

_Turning back to the rest of the group he smiled. "To answer your question, I'm kind of seeing all of them. They don't seem to mind…is that a problem?"_

_"W__ell it's a bit of a delicate situation," Said Genma, "I believe Asuma, for instance, has a interest in Kurenai… and since you seem to be swimming in women at the moment, we thought it would be fair, if you took a step back and gave him a chance."_

_ "Anko has blown me off the last three times I've asked her out," exploded Raido. "I've been after her for years…you must back away and let me have her." _

_ There seemed to be a general consensus amongst the men and Naruto's eyes darkened…_

_"I see. Well let me make one thing clear, "he vanished in a burst of speed and punched Raido in the face. _

_"The girls are free to see whoever they want, I won't stop them. However," he vanished again and Hayate was sent flying. _

_"If any of you dare imply that I would give them away like so many kunai."_

_ In a burst of speed, Asuma received a spin kick to the face that crashed him into the ground, and Genma was punched multiple times in the stomach, sending him to his knees. _

_"I'll kick all of your asses myself." _

_Kiba looked stunned at the ease in which the Blond had dispatched several Jonin. "Please don't tell my sister," he begged before clutching Akamaru and running away. Naruto grinned and left to meet up with Kurenai. He never told her what happened. But the next day he received quite a few enthusiastic greetings from several happy women. _

**_End flashback_**

"Anyway after that, things kind of got really easy on the relationship front." Satisfied that Jiraiya was still alive, he vanished in a flash of yellow and returned a second later, carrying a surprised, purple haired woman. "Guren-chan, meet Tsunade and Shizune."

The shocked woman bowed her head respectfully, before smacking the blond upside the head.

"You idiot, don't whisk me away like that, without warning me." She admonished.

Naruto merely gave her a wide grin. "Sorry, Guren-chan."

He hoisted Jiraiya over his shoulder and placed an arm around the women.

"Hold on tight, ladies," he said before whisking the group away in a flash of yellow.

They landed in a tangled heap in the Hokage's office.

"Tsunade-chan, please take Ero-sennin to the hospital. As of now, you are chief Medic-nin, and can make any changes you see fit. I'll meet up with you later to discuss them."

He reached into his desk and tossed Guren a forehead protector. "I'll make it official later, but you are now a shinobi of the leaf. Shizune, I'll have you reinstated to active duty later. For now, I have a very important meeting to get to."

With a wave he vanished again, leaving three dazed women behind him.

* * *

"Did you reach a decision regarding Kisame?" Naruto asked Itachi as they rendezvoused at Root headquarters.

"I have. Kisame Hoshigaki died as of 4 pm today. His body will be officially released to Kirigakure in the morning. Incidentally, we have a new recruit I've selected to be my second in command and unofficial partner in Root affairs."

"I see. I gave Mei one of my hirashin Kunai, so I'll meet with her later today and get her on board."

The Uchiha looked amused. "Will she go for it?"

Naruto snorted. "If I do the thing with my shadow clones that she likes, she'd gladly go to war for me."

"You know, if you were anyone else, I'd think you were just using her." Itachi teased, nearly grinning at the blond's affronted look.

"Speaking of being used, what do you suppose your old organization will do now?"

"Pain is very shrewd and immensely powerful. He'll likely go underground for a few years until he can recruit members to replace me and Kisame and shift his bases of operation."

"How strong is he?" asked Naruto.

"Most of his abilities are a mystery; however he did defeat each member of the Akatsuki when they joined. I would suggest we train hard and proceed with caution."

"Any news on Madara?"

"None, I've been able to determine that he was behind the Bloodline massacres in Kiri, but I have no idea where he went after that. However since he is the one who told me and Kisame about the organization, he must have some connection to it."

"I suppose we'll just have to wait and see. With Tsunade here, we can proceed with transplanting Shisui's eyes. Once we learn the extent of the ultimate Mangekyo's power we can figure out ways to overcome it."

"I'll meet up with Tsunade at the hospital later." Their meeting over, Itachi was about to turn and leave when a hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"It's good to have you back, Itachi." said Naruto, clasping the Uchiha's arm in a brotherly fashion. "This place hasn't been the same without you."

Itachi smiled, "It's good to be back." Suddenly a shiver went through his body. "Naruto…before I forget, did you inform Yugao of my impending return?"

The blond's face went pale. "Oh, crap I forgot to." He quickly surveyed the shadows of the office as if expecting the purple haired woman to emerge at any moment.

"Well I'd love to help you with this," Naruto said quickly before heading for the exit, "However I'm Hokage, and very busy. You understand don't you? Good. Later bro."

Before Itachi could work out what was said the blond was gone.

'_You'll pay for this,'_ he thought before retreating to the safety of the hospital.

* * *

Itachi's attempt to avoid the wrath of his girlfriend by hiding in the hospital was unsuccessful. As it turned out, Yugao was already there to visit a member of her team who had injured himself during training. When she spotted her estranged boyfriend, she leapt at him, capturing him in a hungry kiss and sending them both sprawled on the floor. His guard softened as he melted into the kiss and reconnected with the love of his life. His bliss was short lived however as a hard right hook knocked him out of his reverie.

"You idiot," Yugao screamed before punching him again. The startled look in his eyes coupled with the feeling of being back in his arms for the first time in years, made her soften for a moment and she kissed him hard.

"How could you undertake such a mission without talking to me," she said softly before hitting him again and bursting into tears.

She alternated between punching and kissing him between sobs until, finally, she collapsed on top of him. She turned to apologize for her outburst when she noticed that they had somehow made it from the hospital interior to the roof.

"As soon as you kissed me the first time, I body flickered us here." Said Itachi quietly, before gathering her closer and kissing her softly. "I thought you would appreciate a change of venue for such an emotional scene, Yugao."

She smiled, and wiped her eyes. "You managed to bring me in a shunshin, without me even noticing. Your skills have certainly improved while you were away."

"A necessity. It was a very dangerous assignment." This proved to be the wrong thing to say, as Yugao's eyes hardened, and using her convenient position, cupped his manhood dangerously.

"Tell me Itachi-kun, what possessed you to take on such a long term and dangerous mission without talking to me. You left me alone all these years and would have let me think you were a traitor. Do I really mean so little to you?" Itachi gulped, as with every word her grip on his manhood tightened. He did what any man would do in such a precarious situation: he blamed Naruto.

"I'm sorry, Hime," he gulped." The last thing I would ever want is to be parted from you. But Naruto said time was of the essence and we had to move fast. I trusted he would find a way to inform you of my mission and my love." Mentally uttering a silent apology to the blond for the hell that was about to rain down upon him, Itachi captured Yugao into another kiss, twisting his body to nibble on her ear and distract her from trying to emasculate her Hokage. She melted into his embrace and soon all thoughts of revenge were erased from her mind.

* * *

"Your heart rate is unusually high, and there are signs of recent intense physical activity. From the rips in your clothing and scratches on your back, whoever you were sparring with must have been a fearsome opponent," said Shizune as she gave Itachi his check up.

"Indeed, it took six hours before I was finally able to defeat her." Said the Uchiha, barely avoiding cracking a smile.

"There was something unusual in my scans of your chest, I'll have to have Tsunade-sama take a look at it." The raven haired girl left and a few minutes later Tsunade entered the room.

"Evening, Itachi. Naruto said there was something you wanted to discuss with me."

"Yes. Because of the nature of the Mangekyo's power, my eyesight is beginning to deteriorate. I estimate that within the next 3 years my eyesight will have disappeared completely."

"That's a shame; however from your tone I'm assuming there is a solution."

"Yes." He pulled out the vial with Shisui's eyes and tossed them to her. "I need you to integrate these eyes with mine."

"Very well, but first let me see about the issue Shizune mentioned with your lungs."

Her glowing green hand roamed over his body, and after a few minutes she turned and gave him a serious look. "You're a very lucky man. You tested positive for a rare lung disease, that I've seen only twice before during my travels. Its normally fatal, however since we caught it early, I'll be able to operate."

Itachi looked relieved. "Thank you Tsunade-Sama."

* * *

Naruto sighed in relief as he finished the final seal and laid it in position amongst a sea of similar seals inscribed into the meditation room of the Hokage mansion.

_'You ready Kurama?'_he asked.

**_'Born ready, brat. Let's do this.'_** Naruto nodded and with a thought entered his mindscape.

_'Alright, the seals should prevent any of your chakra presence from leaking out of the room. So let's try to contact my mother.'_

**_'How do you plan on doing it, I cannot sense her presence.'_**

_'My father appeared because of a failsafe in the seal summoned him whenever the seal was in danger of being destroyed. I imagine that a similar failsafe is built in for my mother, once I remove the seal and began trying to harness your full power.'_ Without a thought the blond reached up and ripped off the seal.

Nothing happened at first except for a surge in Kurama's chakra.

"Hmm…well that didn't work quite as well as I expected.' Stated Naruto. 'Do you feel any different?"

**"Well I feel no more restraints on my power, and my ability to perceive the outside world has greatly increased. You sure are ****ugly, brat,****even for a human."**The fox teased.

"So says the fox who hasn't gotten laid in like a century. Those feminine looking tails must not help much." Naruto stuck his tongue out and Kurama growled. The two leapt at each other. Naruto wrapped his arms around the fox's neck and tried vainly to choke him, while Kurama batted him away with one of his tails, which Naruto grabbed and bit.

Kurama yelped in pain and sent the blond crashing into the ground. Before the two could go at it again, a hard fist walloped them both.

"That's enough you two." Said a strong feminine voice.

The two turned to see tall beautiful redhead with stunning sapphire eyes glaring at them with her hands on her hips.

"Wow," was all Naruto said. "Mom, your hair is beautiful. I wish I had hair like that."

Kurama grinned evilly. "**Y****ou know brat, your mom's pretty hot for a mortal. Perhaps –"** before the fox could finish there was a flash of yellow light and a rasengan smashed into his head.

"Can it, fox" the blond yelled. "If you come anywhere near my mother I'll kick your ass."

**"Try it brat. We foxes are legendary for our prowess with the ladies. I'm sure it won't take much effort."**

The next instance Naruto was again trying vainly to strangle the fox, while Kurama merely smirked and smacked him with his tails.

A series of giggles interrupted their confrontation.

"Well Naru-chan you've certainly inherited my temper," said an amused Kushina. "Although from what I've seen, perhaps now you can understand the feelings of young Sasuke. I never would have guessed my old friend would be such a cradle robber."

Naruto blushed. He was perfectly content with his relationships with the women in his life, but to know your own mother had witnessed your excursions was embarrassing.

"Still," said the woman moving forward to grasp her son in a hug, "I couldn't be prouder of the man you have become. My boy, the youngest Hokage ever."

"Mom…we called you here to see if you know of a way to free Kurama without it killing me."

"Hmm," she pondered. "Not exactly, but as an Uzumaki, the unsealing of a tailed beast shouldn't kill you. I was able to survive for a time while being weakened from childbirth, if it wasn't for me sacrificing myself to prevent the fox from killing you, I'm certain I would have survived." Kurama looked sheepish at the large glare she sent him.

"So all we have to do is to find a safe place to unseal him," said Naruto excitedly. "Well fuzzball, looks like you're going to be free."

**"If I wasn't so excited, brat, I'd eat you**" retorted the fox.

"As if you could catch me," the blond teased while sticking his tongue out.

"Humph… you'd probably give me indigestion anyway."

Naruto grinned… "So let's get this show on the road."

"Wait a moment… Naru-chan" said Kushina. "You may want to hold off on unsealing the fox."

"Why?" he asked. "I made a promise, I have to keep it."

"I understand. But you still have to face Madara…and with Kurama free there is nothing stopping him from taking control of him again."

Naruto looked crestfallen, but Kurama nodded. **"As much as it pains me to admit it, she's right. I do not wish to be that accursed man's puppet again…it is better that we wait to free me."**

"If that's what you want, Kurama. I suppose until then we'll focus on controlling your power now that the seal is gone. If we meld our two chakra systems together we should be able to completely control our joint powers as well as switch who is in control of my body. It will be a valuable trump card against Madara."

He turned and embraced his mother. "I'm glad I got to meet you. Mother, I promise to make you and father proud of me by changing this world of ours."

"I know you will. Your father and I love you very much, Naru-chan. Never forget it, and never lose sight of the people important to you." She kissed his forehead and in a beam of pure light she was gone. Naruto stared at the spot she had just left for a moment before his eyes hardened with resolve. There was much work to do.

* * *

The next week passed in a blur. Naruto began practicing melding his chakra with Kurama's. The melding part was easy, controlling it was not. The first time he utilized his new chakra cloak, the power slipped away from him and left training ground 15 as a smoldering crater. He found that to fully control the power it required both he and Kurama to work in tandem, only allowing out as much chakra as was needed. The process was slow going, but he was deeply impressed with his new form's power. His already impressive speed skyrocketed until his every movement looked as instantaneous as his Hirashin. Upon closer inspection however he found the speeds to be different. His 9 tailed cloak increased his battle speed until he was a blur on the battlefield, allowing him to strike nearly instantly anywhere during battle. It also increased his strength and the power of his jutsu. The Hirashin however allowed for instantaneous teleportation, which made it more useful for traveling long distances and performing surprise attacks on enemies. The Hirashin also allowed him to transport an enemy's attacks as well as transfer anyone he in tandem, the two techniques would make it nearly impossible to actually hit him on the battlefield unless the enemy had comparable speed to his own.

He also began his training with Tsunade, which for now consisted of long hours studying medical scrolls and learning her special dodging techniques.

Meanwhile, Itachi had undergone the surgery to fix the problem with his lungs, while also transplanting his new eyes. It took a few days, but he was finally able to experiment with his new powers. He found that his control over the Amaterasu had increased to the point that not only was the attack stronger, but he could now extinguish the flames at will. His control over Susanoo had increased as well and he was now able to form a miniature version around shadow clones he summoned to the battlefield, increasing their effectiveness. The biggest boon that came from his experimenting was the technique called Kamui. He used it accidentally at first during a spar with Yugao, sending an incoming pair of shuriken to another dimension. Upon closer experimenting he found he could not only send objects to a different dimension using his left eye, but using his right allowed him to teleport himself or anything he touched to that same dimension.

Vowing to increase his power even further, he threw himself into his training.

* * *

Naruto hid a grin as he dodged a chakra enhanced punch sent at him by Tsunade, before twisting and, in a burst of speed, sending her flying a few hundred feet away with and punch. This would be his 16th victory. While she was still physically stronger than him, his endurance matched her own, and coupled with his growing strength and immense speed, she was unable to defeat him anymore.

It had been a year since Naruto's training with Tsunade had begun and he had truly amazed her with his progress. He had learned the mystical palm technique as well as how to use chakra scalpels in only a month. Within the next 6 months he had devoured every medical scroll she had through judicious use of shadow clones. He was now working on creating his own medical technique based on her Creation Rebirth technique. His usage of her strength technique had come a long way, and with precise chakra control he was able to create craters with every punch. He still had a way to go before he reached Tsunade's level, so he increased his natural strength training and continued his weekly spars with Itachi, which had grown to such intensity that they were forced to have them outside the village. In addition to medical jutsu, he completed his elemental training for water and combined his wind affinity with his Rasengan to create a spiraling shuriken of wind chakra that was even able to cut through the initial stage of Itachi's Susanoo.

His best friend had not been slaking in the last year. Itachi had drastically increased his strength, speed, and endurance through harsh training with Shark, his new second in command in Root. His mastery of his Sharingan techniques had grown and he discovered how to not only use Kamui to make parts of his body intangible, but also how to use it to teleport instantly over long distances. He trained with Naruto on how to sense people and through months of playing teleportation tag with each other, he was able to find and locate anyone he had come in contact with. To augment his already impressive list of techniques he mastered using lightning chakra and through bribery with one of Jiraiya's newest books, even learned the Raikiri from Kakashi.

He also began sparring frequently with Jiraiya, and after having a series of draws due to the Sannin's experience and mastery of Senjutsu, was finally able to soundly defeat him after 10 months of training. He was strong, but if the legends about Madara's strength was true, he'd have to get stronger.

* * *

"You ready for this 'Tachi," asked Naruto, while easing into his fighting stance.

"Always," responded the Uchiha, settling into his own stance. For a second there was no movement and then in a blur the two were upon each other, blocking and twisting through a series of powerful attacks. Itachi was thankful that his training had allowed him to use a miniscule Susanoo cloak around his body to guard against Naruto's super strength, as with one punch the blond was able to crush steel.

With an excited smile, he twisted and sent a kick to the blond's stomach that was dodged, but not before dozens of huge fireballs launched towards the blond's position.

Naruto grinned and teleported behind him, before slamming a rasengan into his stomach that was blocked with the black skeletal figure of Susanoo.

Itachi smirked at his surrogate brother, "Amaterasu." Tremendous black flames leapt towards the blond, who rapidly launched through seals.

"Fire sealing method," he said and sealed the black flames in a scroll.

He nimbly ducked a series of earth spikes and water spears, and summoned a rasengan just in time to block Itachi's raikiri. The two powerful jutsu clashed against each other for a moment before Naruto began sinking into Itachi's body. Recognizing his friend's Kamui technique, the blond teleported away.

Launching forward in a burst of speed, he tossed a Hirashin kunai at Itachi who let it phase through him. He then followed it up with a rasengan, and unknowingly mirroring his father's attack against Tobi, teleported behind his friend and stabbed him in the shoulder with a kunai.

Itachi groaned in pain but landed a powerful kick that sent the Hokage sliding backwards.

"Excellent move," he praised his friend. "You capitalized on the fact that in order to attack you, I had to materialize at least part of my body."

"I would caution you against using that move more than you have to. It would be entirely too easy to grow dependent on such a defense and leave yourself open." Naruto summoned his sword and leapt towards his friend who retaliated with his own blade. The two weapons clashed back and forth, surging chakra reducing the ground beneath them into a gigantic crater.

"Wind Style:Wind Blade Inferno." Hundreds of wind blades decimated the surrounding area as they melded into a tornado that gained friction and got set on fire. The swirling mass of fire and wind chakra headed towards Itachi, burning to ash everything in its path.

"Susanoo." summoned the Uchiha, blocking the powerful attack with the armored form of Susanoo. A yellow flash appeared before him and, to his shock; Naruto punched through Susanoo's ribcage and yanked Itachi away from the protective barrier, receiving several kunai to the stomach that he promptly healed, as he threw his friend through several trees.

Itachi regained his footing and launched several bolts of lightning at the blond, followed quickly by water spikes and fireballs that scorched the earth beneath them. Naruto avoided them with hirashin, but this bought Itachi the time he needed to form his new jutsu. "Water Style:Shocking Water Barrage." A torrent of water surged towards Naruto, who moved to dodge. He managed to evade most of the water, however the drops that landed on him, surged with electricity and made him nearly scream in pain.

Vanishing in a flash of yellow, he reappeared opposite his friend.

"What was that? It fucking hurt." He complained much to his partner's amusement.

"It's my own original jutsu: a lightning/water combination jutsu." The Uchiha frowned, "besides you're one to talk. Your wind/fire jutsu almost burned off my arm before I could use Susanoo."

"What can I say? I'm just awesome like that."

Itachi snorted. "They could build monuments to your ego."

"If they do, it better be big," grinned the blond. "Shall we kick things up a notch?"

Itachi glanced around. The once beautiful glade they were sparring in was now a pile of rubble and shattered trees. "That would not be wise. I don't think the surrounding environment can handle the full force of our power."

Naruto pouted. "I suppose you're right. Still, it would have been nice to really let loose. All we've been able to do for the last six months is tie when we spar."

"It's probably for the best. We do not want to alter the landscape more than we have to."

"Oh all right. Ichiraku's?"

Itachi shook his head. "Can't, promised Yugao I'd take her out for our anniversary."

"You are so whipped," his friend teased.

"Am I? Who was it that spent 6 hours teleporting all over the elemental nations, looking for a special brand of sake for Tsunade?"

"That's different and you know it."

"Oh? And what about the time you broke into the wind daimyo's palace, just because Guren admired the princess's ceremonial dress and you wanted to steal it for her."

Naruto pouted. "I hate you."

* * *

It had been 3 years since Itachi's return to the village and Konoha had blossomed. The damages from the Suna/Oto invasion were gone and a sense of tranquility had once again encompassed the village.

Tsunade had rebuilt the hospital from the ground up and not only saved the careers of dozens of injured shinobi like Gai's protégé, but had trained dozens of upcoming medic nin. The Hokage's new policy of ensuring a medical ninja was in every squad was slowly coming into effect, and casualty rates began to sharply fall.

Itachi's training had continued to improve, and he created several new techniques and greatly increased his stamina. His relationship with Yugao had also grown and two years after his return, the two married in a small ceremony attended by only their closest friends.

Naruto on the other hand, continued his usual relationships and it wasn't uncommon to hear a series of moans echoing at odd times from the Hokage's mansion.

His own training had been fruitful as well. He mastered using his 9-tailed state as well as using Tsunade's enhanced strength technique. His skill with medical Ninjutsu had skyrocketed and he even developed a technique based on Tsunade's creation rebirth that stored some of Kurama's excess chakra to heal him instantly whenever he called on it.

He sparred frequently with Jiraiya and Tsunade, and the results showed in the intensity of his weekly bouts with Itachi.

With their increase in strength they were so close to achieving their dream. Relations with Suna and Kiri hand gotten stronger over the years and with the alliance of his friends Tazuna, Koyuki, Haruna and Toki, most of the elemental countries were friendly to fire country.

Soon peace would be at hand.

* * *

In a large cave on the outskirts of Ame, nine shadowy figures stood at attention.

"It is time to accelerate our plans," said a monotone voice."Deidara, you and Sasori are to head to Suna and capture the ichibi."

Two of the shadows bowed and vanished.

"Kakuzu, I want you and Hidan to head to Grass and capture their Jinchuriki." Two more of the shadows left as well and the voice continued. "Hiruko and Tobi, you are to head to Earth country and capture Ukataka, who is in hiding there. Zetsu will be nearby if you require assistance."

After a few minutes only two figures remained.

"Nagato, the defection of Itachi and the death of Kisame concerns me. We are now down to only 6 rings to use in the sealing process." said a feminine voice.

"It is of no matter; things will still proceed according to our plans."

"And what about the troubling strength of the kyuubi jinchuriki? Defeating him could be difficult."

"No matter his strength. He will fall before God and our path to peace will reach its climax."

* * *

In the main base of Oto, Kabuto idly surveyed the reports his spies had given him. It appeared Akatsuki was finally on the move. _'It's time to put my own plans into motion,'_ he thought before pressing a seal to summon the rest of the members of his team: Hebi. He was able to cure Kimimaro's disease, bringing the bone user back to full power, and gaining his loyalty with his pledge to annihilate those who had killed Orochimaru. Through Kimimaro's loyalty, he gained Jugo's as well. The final member was a particularly talented prisoner named Suigetsu, who was a member of the famed Hozuki clan. The three were incredibly strong, easily S-class, and would do very well in furthering his plans.

His own strength had increased rapidly over the last three years, and he was now certain he was ready to bring chaos to the Shinobi world.

When the three members of his team arrived he grinned evilly.

"I have a mission for you."

_**A.N.**: This was a difficult chapter to write so hope you enjoyed it. Thanks to all of those who follow or reviewed this story. This is the last of the transitional chapters and things begin to speed up quite a bit in the next chapter. In fact I believe there are only 7 or 8 chapters left in this story._

_I will say that the members of Akatsuki will be far more dangerous than they were in canon. From the stats on each of the members: all of them were Kage-level and yet half of them were killed by relative weaklings. Sasori should have slaughtered Sakura and Chiyo, and no matter how smart he is there is no way Shikamaru should have been able to defeat Hidan. Expect some difficult fights for our favorite blond._

_Current ages are_

_Itachi 21_

_Naruto 18_

_Rookie 9 -15/16._

_I've thoughts for a sequel, but I'd like it to take place as a crossover, with Itachi and Naruto going to another world, so please any ideas for crossovers would be appreciated._

_Next chapter: The Akatsuki begin implementing their plans and fate of the elemental nations will begin to shift._

_Til next time, Millennion_


	14. Chapter 14

_A.N I'm very pleased with the responses I've gotten for this story. To answer the most common reviews I must say that during Chapter 5 when I mention Minato's and Kakashi's performance during the chunin exam, the key word you guys missed was the fact that INTERNATIONAL chunin exams were recent. I say quite clearly that the exams were used by individual villages to assess their genin, Kakashi and Minato participated in Konoha's chunin exam not the international one. I hope that clears things up._

_So far the Ideas I've received for a sequel have been an Naruto/One __P__iece crossover, A Naruto/Kingdom __H__earts crossover__, a__nd a Naruto/Rosario Vampire crossover. When I get two more good __i__deas, I'll start a poll and allow people to vote for which crossover they prefer__.__F__irst __t__hanks to everyone who reviewed and thanks once again to Trowa no Miko for her editing and advice. _

An extremely bored Gaara tapped the sides of his chair impatiently.

He hated these tedious meetings with the council. All they did was bicker and read dull reports about everything from crop reports to kunai production.

It was times like this that he envied his fellow Jinchuriki.

The blonde Hokage had had the presence of mind to have one of his closest friends become his personal assistant and handle regular meetings with the council and the non-essential paperwork. In fact the blond had mentioned during one of their monthly spars that both the Raikage and Mizukage had similar assistants. The redheaded Kage had immediately looked for an assistant of his own, but the only one with the right mindset was his sister Temari who had bluntly declared that she would find a way to castrate him with her fan if he so much as suggested it.

When one of the elders started bickering with another about changes to the academy curriculum he contemplated crushing them all with his sand.

A knock at the door broke him from his slightly homicidal thoughts, and he looked up with interest when the familiar form of his brother walked in.

"Gaara, Temari has returned and she has an important message for you."

Feeling certain that Kami was looking out for him, Gaara quickly got up and excused himself.

"I never thought I'd be so happy to see you, Kankuro."

"Heh…you owe me one. Temari's message wasn't that important, you could have finished your meeting."

"Say anything to anyone and I'll have you teaching classes at the academy."

The robed man shivered and wisely nodded as the two jumped through the open window leading to Gaara's office.

Waiting for them was a tall beautiful woman with blond pigtails and a mischievous look on her face.

"Skipping out on an another council meeting? My, what an example for the Kazekage to show," she teased, enjoying the affronted look on her brother's face. It pleased her to be able to mess with him like this, as there was a time when even meeting his eyes directly would have sent tremors of terror down her body.

Gaara merely gave her his usual blank look. "I don't see how Naruto deals with it. A bunch of dusty old men stuck in the past. If I could I'd get rid of the whole lot of them and start fresh."

"Well Naruto-kun has Mikoto-san to help. She's brilliant at handling the Konoha council. Speaking of, you wouldn't know anything about her not so subtle attempts to tell me how great and glamorous her job is, would you?"

Years of practice allowed him to hide a wince. In truth he had pleaded with his fellow Kage to find a way to convince his sister to help him.

"So what message did Naruto send?" he asked, smoothly changing the subject.

She eyed him suspiciously for a moment but finally acquiesced. "He says that we should probably increase our village security as he has received word that the Akatsuki is on the move again."

"They would be so bold as to attack one of the five great villages?" asked Kankuro in surprise.

"Don't underestimate them," Gaara admonished." From the dossier of their members that Naruto sent, each one of them is an extremely powerful S-class shinobi, easily Kage level, and as of right now, the only S-class Shinobi in Suna is me."

"Surely no one would be foolish enough to fight you in the Desert." The puppeteer protested. "Not even the Hokage is able to defeat you in the desert."

"Be that as it may, inform Yura to increase security. In the event of my capture, I have come up with a contingency plan. Temari you know what to do." His two siblings nodded and vanished.

Gaara sighed and walked over to the window and stared at his village.

The journey to becoming Kazekage had not been easy for him.

After his father's death, he had been the most powerful shinobi in Suna. Due to his past actions no one trusted him to lead. To help with this, he integrated himself into the regular shinobi forces and slowly earned the respect of his comrades.

His friendship with Naruto grew as every month or so the blond would teleport to Suna and spar with him. At first he lost badly, each time. But as time commenced and he learned to control more and more of Shukaku's power, he was eventually able to force a stalemate. After the spars the two would just sit and talk, about everything from what it was like to be Jinchiuriki to their plans for the future. Gaara was stunned to hear his friend's goal to change the shinobi world, and was astonished with the progress he had made. He decided then to throw his full support behind Naruto's dream. Once he became Kazekage, he met with the Mizukage and established an alliance with Kiri.

Naruto immediately returned the favor by issuing an edict refusing all special missions from the wind daimyo. This boosted Suna's economy and did much to sow goodwill amongst its people.

A peculiar white bird flying by his window, instantly broke him from his musing.

He stared out at it for a few moments before going to a nearby closet and strapping on his giant gourd of sand. He then leapt out the window, using a small wave of sand to keep himself in the air before shooting several spears of sand towards the large bird.

The white bird veered out of the way and revealed its passenger. A blond man of average height, wearing a long black cloak with red clouds on it.

"Pretty brazen, even for a member of Akatsuki, to just stroll into my village," remarked Gaara as his sand brought him to eye level with the man.

"Interesting… How did you know I was here?"

"There are no birds like that in this desert, Deidara."

The blond looked surprised for a moment before he smirked. "It seems my reputation precedes me, even in Suna."

"Hmmph... Die, was all that the redhead said, before launching several tendrils of sand towards the Akatsuki member, who gleefully dodged. What followed next was a twisted game of cat and mouth as Gaara sent dozens of sand tendrils at Deidara who narrowly dodged them each time. His mocking grin quickly disappeared however when the amount of tendrils doubled, all surging at great speed, trying to capture him. From behind him, a giant claw of sand moved slowly towards his head, and for all appearances he looked like a rat caught in a trap.

The Akatsuki member had not been idle however, and he removed his hands from the pouches at his sides and quickly tossed a small clay bird at the giant claw behind him.

The claw promptly exploded freeing the blond from the sand trap.

"Whew that was close," he said. "It appears you're as good as they say."

He reached into one of his pouches and formed a series of clay figures. "Let's see how you handle this." He launched dozens of clay birds at Gaara, who was forced to form a giant dome of sand around his body, to block the explosions.

From the safety of his sand defense, he activated his eye of sand, which appeared outside of the ball and locked on his opponent. With the eye activated, he could still direct his sand at his enemy, without leaving the safety of his sand barrier.

"So that's the 'Ultimate Defense' of the Kazekage" said Deidara with interest. "Looks impressive…I wonder if it can stand up to my specialty."

Suddenly dozens of dense pillars of sand shot up from the village, and shot towards Deidara, who was barely able to dodge. Undaunted the sand formed spears and shot towards him, forcing him to blow it away with several clay bombs. He formed several clay centipedes that wrapped around the attacking sand and began following it towards Gaara. Suddenly the sand sprouted small spikes that burst the centipedes and directed the explosion harmlessly upwards.

A speedy tendril of sand grasped hold of his leg. He managed to pull away from its grip only for it to wrap around his arm, but not before he sent a series of clay bombs that obliterated several of the attacking pillars of sand.

"Sand coffin," said the stoic voice of Gaara. The sand around Deidara's arm crushed it into dust.

The Akatsuki member managed to remove himself from Gaara's sand and maneuvered his clay bird a safe distance away.

_'Whew that was close...it appears he's as strong as they say,'_ thought Deidara as the mouths on his hands consumed more of his rapidly depleting clay. _'This isn't good. I'm nearly out of clay and I can't afford to accidentally kill him by using my more powerful techniques... Hmm that's an idea.'_

Maneuvering the giant clay bird into striking distance, he formed his specialty. "Just Remember," he announced loudly. "Art is a blast!"

Gaara was in bind. This Akatsuki member was crafty and agile, and far more dangerous than he had anticipated. Plus he was fighting with a handicap, as most of his attacks had a wide area of effect, and did enormous damage to the surrounding environment, something he couldn't risk inside of his village. From his place inside of his sand barrier he watched as his enemy prepared another explosion. However, instead of aiming for the Kazekage as expected, the blond dropped his latest bomb towards the village, where dozens of Suna shinobi lingered watching the battle between their beloved Kazekage and the invader. The strange clay doll suddenly grew to an enormous size and dropped at extreme speed towards the village. Mustering most of his chakra, Garra summoned an enormous amount of sand from the surrounding desert and managed to form a large sand shield to deflect the force of the blast, and saving his people. The village erupted in cheers, and Gaara felt a brief moment of satisfaction before a clay doll appeared out of nowhere and he hastily reformed his shield of sand just in time to deflect the explosion.

He had just a moment to breathe a sigh of relief when, to his horror, dozens of clay insects suddenly appeared inside his sand and promptly exploded. His sand armor absorbed most of the heat, but the shock of the explosion sent shocks of pain throughout his body.

Deidara grinned. Everything had gone according to plan. When Gaara crushed his arm, he released small pieces of his clay into the retreating sand. All that was next was to get Gaara to reform his barrier, the victory was his.

To his shock however, Gaara remained conscious, and appeared to be using every ounce of his strength and chakra to move his dense sand shield from over the village, preventing it from falling and crushing everyone to death.

"Very admirable," the blond remarked. "Giving your last to protect your village, fitting for a Kage." Gaara barely managed to achieve his goal, moving the expanse of sand safely to a nearby cliff. Out of chakra his sand barrier collapsed and he began to fall, only to be caught by Deidara's clay bird. Deidara laughed in elation as he dodged several volleys of arrows sent from the desperate Suna ninja. He played with them for a moment, easily dodging their attacks. The next volley however contained explosive tags, and he had a much more difficult time, dodging the exploding arrows.

"Well this has been fun but I better get you to Master Sasori and start the unsealing process, he's probably gonna bitch about me taking so long." With a mocking wave the blond sped away, leaving behind a devastated Village.

* * *

"How the hell does a village's Kage get abducted in full view of its shinobi?" Screamed Temari at the emergency council meeting.

"Calm down, Temari. No one besides Gaara is capable of aerial combat, there was little we could do," Said Baki cautiously.

"Still how shameful..." muttered an elder, before a glare from Kankuro silenced him.

"Luckily thanks to the Kazekage's actions, we suffered few casualties; however it appears that the honored siblings were assassinated during the commotion."

"What?" the collective council gasped. "Lady Chiyo and Lord Ebizo were old, but they were two of the strongest shinobi Suna has ever had. How could someone have killed them both without anyone noticing?"

"From the information we received from Konoha, each member of the Akatsuki has a partner. The man who kidnapped lord Kazekage, is Deidara the famous bomber from Iwa. And if the team remained the same, then his Partner is none other than our own Missing-nin, Akuna no Sasori."

Ignoring the gasps, Baki continued "Someone Like Sasori would indeed be strong enough to pull off such a high profile assasination. The question is why?"

"Revenge?" Kankuro mused. "From what I understand, things between him and Lady Chiyo, ended rather sourly."

"Possibly, but why wait so many years if vengeance was his goal?"

"None of this speculating matters right now," interrupted Temari. "Gaara's been kidnapped, his orders were to Summon Naruto, and implement his contingency plan."

"I object to involving another village into a Suna matter." stated Tetsuya, a Suna Elder. "Allies they may be, but Konoha is still a rival village, we do not want to show weakness."

"Konoha has long been our friend and ally," protested Baki.

"Enough of this," Temari said fiercely. "I'm Summoning Naruto immediately as per the Kazekage's orders, if any of you have a problem with that, I'll kill you myself."

* * *

"So it seems that Akatsuki is on the move," said Itachi, sipping calmly from a cup of tea. "I've received word that both of Iwa's Jinchuriki have been missing for several weeks. I also received word that Momichi Zabuza was assassinated yesterday. Not much is known about his assassins, but it is known that they were wearing black cloaks with red clouds on them."

"Damn...Haku-chan must be devastated...but why would the Akatsuki target Zabuza?" asked Naruto, idly munching on a stick of pocky.

"I'm not sure. But it is odd; Kiri doesn't even have a Jinchuriki anymore."

"Keep an eye out for more information. How goes our other plan?"

"My Root has made great progress in the destruction of Oto's bases. From our intel, Otagakure consists of six enormous bases instead of one central village. The bases are located all over the elemental countries, but because of the scattered nature and infrequent communication between them, we have been able to systematically destroy four of them with none of the others being any wiser."

"Excellent. Who's leading the strike teams?"

"Shark with Torune as second in command."

"Bet he's enjoying it."

"Indeed, especially since I gave the order to leave no survivors."

"What's your next move?"

"Well if the Akatsuki is really on the move, then they must be going after the Biju. Kumo is too difficult even for them to storm directly, and I doubt they will want to face Gaara in the desert... the whereabouts of Ukatata,the six tailed Jinchuriki, is unknown. That leaves the Seven Tails in the Hidden Grass Village, I plan on heading there myself and eliminating whatever team is sent after her."

"When you find out more about Zabuza's killers, let me know... I want to ensure Haku gets some closure."

Suddenly the Hokage shivered. "What is it?" asked Itachi with concern.

"I'm being summoned to Suna. Something must be wrong. Whatever it is I'll take care of it, you proceed with your plan." In a flash of yellow, the Hokage vanished.

He reappeared in Gaara's office, greeted by a tear stained Temari.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Gaara's been kidnapped, and two of our most prominent Shinobi have been assassinated by the Akatsuki."

"Fuck...Who was killed, and any idea which members took him?"

"Lady Chiyo and Lord Ebizo. They're both retired. And it looks like it was Deidara and Akasuna no Sasori."

"I see...this is the second assassination by the Akatsuki that makes no sense."

"Can you save Gaara?" she asked desperately.

"I think so. When I modified his containment seal, I applied my Hirashin seal to it. I should be able to teleport to him. Wish me luck." in a flash he disappeared.

He reappeared in a dark cave, completely surprising the two Akatsuki members huddled around the unconscious figure of the Kazekage.

"The Kyuubi Jinchuriki?" said a surprised Sasori. "How did you get in here so fast without us knowing?"

"By using this Jutsu," in a flash of yellow he reappeared next to Gaara and picked him up before vanishing before either ninja could react.

He reappeared in the Konoha Hospital, next to a surprised Tsunade.

"Is that the Kazekage? Naruto what are you-"

"We don't have long. Here take him. He still has a pulse so there should be time to stabilize him. I think his tailed beast was unsealed. Do what you can, I have unfinished business to attend to." Before she could respond, he was gone again, teleporting back to the cave.

* * *

"Sorry to leave so abruptly guys, but I had to make sure my friend got to a doctor. I'm curious. How did you guys perform the unsealing so quickly?"

"Our leader's new jutsu. It is none of your concern; however I see the rumors of you mastering the Fourth Hokage's prized technique are true," said Sasori who seemed most interested in this fact. "I met him once… During the climax of the Third Shinobi War. He was already a legend from his exploits against Iwa. Never have I seen such a masterful shinobi, no one could match him on the battlefield. But…perhaps his son has surpassed Uzumaki…the youngest man to ever become a Kage, and the Kage rumored to be the current strongest." He shrugged off his Akatsuki cloak to reveal the hunched form of a nondescript man with a large demon mask on his back. Protruding from the mask was a large scorpion-like tail.

"It was foolish for you to come here alone," said a grinning Deidara. "Even without my arm, I now have enough explosive clay to turn you into ash."

_'O__kay facing two __A__katsuki members at once will be difficul__t. L__uckily I have some information on their abilities__.__ Itachi says that Deidara is sensitive to Genjutsu plus his clay bombs are fairly slo__w w__hile Sasori was famous for his poisons which means I should probably avoid that wicked looking tail__,'_thought Naruto before settling into his fighting stance. In a burst of speed he tried to punch Deidara in the face, but to his surprise the Akatsuki member had very fine reflexes and was able to barely dodge and flip away.

"This place is a bit cramped for a fight of this caliber," remarked Naruto. "What do you fella's say we take this to a much bigger playground?"

"Fighting in this limited space will hamper our fighting ability as well," stated Sasori.

"Then let me make some room," grinned Deidara, before lobbing several dozen clay bombs at once. Naruto barely had a moment to react, before an enormous explosion reduced the cave to rubble.

"I didn't kill him did I?" asked Deidara curiously, as his fellow blond was nowhere in sight.

"Not likely, he isn't a Kage for no reason."

Suddenly, a in a flash of yellow, Sasori's puppet was cut in two. Naruto appeared behind the puppeteer, his sword humming with wind chakra. Flashing through seals, he sent several spears of water at Deidara, who nimbly dodged them, before receiving a bone jarring punch to the face that sent him crashing into a tree.

Naruto quickly dodged to the side to avoid twin giant gouts of fire headed his way from behind. He twisted and spun into a back flip, just to avoid getting decapitated by a pair of gleaming blades. When he regained his footing, he noticed a redhead of average height, standing where Sasori's puppet used to be.

"I haven't been forced to use myself since I joined Akatsuki" remarked Sasori calmly. "You are clearly worth of your reputation. I didn't even see your attack there is something you should know, the Akatsuki partnerships are designed by our leader to be supremely effective. Each member possesses abilities that both complement their partner's strengths and eliminate their weaknesses. Now I want you to see the ultimate form of my eternal art. Red Secret technique: Performance of a Hundred Puppets!" A large scroll leapt from his back , summoning over a hundred red robed figures, all wielding an impressive assortment of sharp weaponry. A compartment on Sasori's chest opened and a hundred chakra strings leapt from his body and connected to the puppets, maneuvering them menacingly in front of Naruto.

"My human puppets are special. They retain all the abilities they had in life, and they have been augmented with my special weapons. Considering the strength each of them had in life, you face the equivalent of a hundred jonin. But considering the class of shinobi you are, it appears I will have to take this even further." Another scroll shot from his back and a familiar black figure appeared.

"Wait a minute," gasped Naruto "That's-"

"The Third Kazekage. I defeated him when I left the Sand Village all those years ago. I had some difficulty defeating him, but now he is the ultimate prize in my collection."

With a mere twitch of his body all of the puppets attacked, immediately putting Naruto on the defensive as he was forced to dodge the clumsy but effective attacks.

Sprinkling the battlefield with a flurry of hirashin kunai, he was shocked when a dark black powder leapt from the Kazekage puppet's mouth, and redirected his kunai to litter aimlessly on the ground far away from their intended targets.

"Did I forget to mention that the Kazekage can use his famed Magnetic Sand, allowing him to control the direction of all metal weapons, and rendering them useless in this fight," mocked Sasori, as his puppet barrage launched towards the Hokage, who managed to destroy a few with powerful punches while narrowly dodging the plethora fire attacks, and attempts to cut him in half.

"Be careful not to get hit by my puppets' blades. They have all been soaked in my special poison, which is strong enough to take out even a Jinchuriki."

Naruto cursed, and took out several puppets with a rasengan, before flashing forward to punch the head off another, and spinning into a kick that obliterated a puppet trying to stab him from behind.

Suddenly he noticed a series of black spikes looming overhead. Preparing to dodge, he was surprised to see dozens of clay bats heading in his direction, joined by dozens of black spikes, gleaming with purple poison. The two attacks collided, sending an enormous explosion that sent dust and sand to obscure the battlefield and destroying a large expanse of nearby trees.

"He's finished," remarked Deidara floating in the sky on his clay bird.

"No. He's still around," said Sasori cautiously. Suddenly a large group of fireballs shot towards them, followed by dozens of earth spears that shredded several puppets, and headed towards Deidara who nimbly dodged.

"How did you escape?" asked Sasori while readying his puppets to attack the newly appeared Hokage.

"Just because you deflected my hirashin from their intended targets, doesn't mean I can't still use my jutsu."

"I see. You are certainly clever."

"Not as much as you two. That was a brilliant strategy. Your show of force and Deidara's silence, made me focus my attention on avoiding your attacks, while Deidara was able to get into position to pepper me with a surprise attack. If it wasn't for my hirashin I'd have been finished."

"Indeed. As fellow artists we are able to craft beautiful strategies together… Allow us to show you what our art can do!" exclaimed Deidara. Several thin white cords shot from his body. They gathered on the ground to form several misshapen, humanoid clay dolls.

The dolls leapt towards the blond Hokage who nimbly dodged, them, before sending several blades of wind to slice them in half. To his surprise they didn't explode, merely split in two and multiplied_. 'This is gonna be annoying'_ thought Naruto. _'I'm so glad Kurama's not awake to see this.'_ Knowing they wouldn't explode, he used his speed and super strength to punch each of the strange clay minions into pieces. But to his horror they merely multiplied again. Now several dozen were advancing on him, and from behind, Sasori's puppets were moving to attack again. Flipping backward, he dodged and weaved through the simultaneous attacks, managing to occasionally destroy a puppet with a punch, but mostly being kept on the defensive as the attacks came too fast for him to form hand signs.

The puppets, minions and Hokage continued their dance, while Sasori and Deidara looked on with surprise. "He's better than I anticipated," remarked Sasori. "Perhaps it's time to end this before he gets any ideas." His Kazekage puppet moved behind him, and began spouting hundreds of hardened grains of sand. Using his magnetic release, the grains of iron sand shot forth at extreme speeds towards the Hokage. Naruto dodged a sword swing from an attacking puppet, and spotted the iron sand attack. Gathering wind chakra he spun slightly and managed to deflect most of the iron sand into the air. Doing so proved costly however, as a sword pierced through his stomach. Grimacing he Yanked out the sword, and punched the attacking puppet's head off.

"You're finished," remarked Sasori. "That poison will quickly sap your strength, and you'll be unconscious within minutes, giving us enough time to extract the Kyuubi from your body before you die."

"Humph," grunted Naruto before grinning. "Don't underestimate me." His hand glowed green and swept over his body. "I'm a fully trained medic-nin. While I can't remove the poison from my system without an antidote, I can drastically delay its effects."

"That won't buy you much time, and the more you exert yourself trying to dodge our collaborative attacks, the faster the poison's effects will seep through your system."

"I know which is why I have to end this match quickly."

"Oh? And how do you expect to do that?"

"A special technique... I hate doing it because it completely lacks any taste or artistry."

"Sounds messy." Sasori replied, curious despite himself.

"You have no idea… Muti-shadow clone jutsu!" Hundreds of shadow clones appeared and in a continuous motion leapt forth and began destroying the puppets. Meanwhile, Naruto disappeared in a flash of speed, and with a large rasengan, obliterated the Kazekage. The puppets and shadow clones, made short work of each other, and in just a few moments, the clones were dispelled and the puppets lay in tattered heaps along the battlefield.

Tossing a hirashin Kunai, he teleported towards Deidara and punched him in the face, sending him flying off of his clay bird.

"Katsu," exclaimed the Akatsuki member, as he fell and Naruto was forced to teleport again as the clay bird exploded.

Deidara landed in a nearby tree, while Naruto appeared back on the ground.

"With the loss of your Kazekage puppet, I can once again use my hirashin. This battle is over."

"Not yet," yelled Deidara, who formed several dozen clay monsters and sent them towards Naruto, who dodged the ensuing explosions. Sasori leapt at him, flame throwers in his arms shooting fire at him, while the wicked looking blades at his hips spun and gave the puppet master extra speed to move behind the Hokage and combine a jet of super dense water that just barely missed the blond, and completely sliced through a nearby boulder.

In a blur of speed, Naruto summoned his sword and decapitated the puppet master.

To his surprise Deidara laughed. "It seems our debate about whose art is superior is over. Still, you'll pay for killing master Sasori."

Spinning into a kick that the blond dodged, he leapt into the air on a new clay bird. Shoveling explosive clay into his mouth he gathered chakra for a minute before spewing out a giant copy of himself. "Art is a blast," exclaimed the bomber before his giant creation exploded. _'No matter what happens, you're dead. That technique releases millions of clay particles into the air, once it's inhaled, it will explode and destroy my enemies on a cellular level…'_

To his surprise, the blond managed to get quite a ways away before he started deteriorating from the explosions…

_'Wait a minute, that was-'_ in a puff of smoke, Naruto appeared before him, and rammed a rasengan into his chest. "It's over," he stated.

"How did you evade my attack?" asked a gurgling Deidara.

"I used hirashin to escape the blast and used a shadow clone to draw your attention. It was the shadow clone that was destroyed. Not me."

"Good thing I anticipated your trickery," remarked Deidara. Before Naruto could react, a hand leapt from inside of the bird and clasped him by the ankle. The Dediara in front of him dissolved into clay while another Deidara appeared in front of him and in a surprisingly quick motion, grasped him in a choke hold. "That's my shadow clone that's holding you in place. In a few seconds both it and my clay creation will explode, sending you into oblivion," explained the Deidara holding him from below. He let go of the blond's ankle and with a mocking salute leapt off of his clay bird. "I wouldn't suggest using your fancy technique. If you do, you'll just carry the explosion with you and die anyway." Laughing hysterically Deidadra formed his seal. "Katsu."

There was a huge explosion and all that remained of the floating figures was dust. "Hehe… looks like I got carried away. Oh well I suppose the Kyuubi will reform eventually." Deidara grinned, and reached into his pouch to consume the rest of his clay and create a ride back to the Akatsuki base.

A flash of light was all he saw next before a long blade pierced through his chest. He looked up with shocked horror and his eyes met the hard sapphire eyes of the blond Hokage. "H-How… did you-"

"I anticipated your moves. I knew that you had likely laid a trap for me in anticipation of me evading your first explosion, so I sent a shadow clone instead. While you were busy celebrating your cunning, my clone applied the hirashin seal to your clothes…the rest is well… you know."

"I see. The fluidity of your movements and the depth of your planning… perhaps… that… too… is art."

"A pity," said Naruto as he gazed down at his fallen enemy. "He was very talented."

"Indeed he was," said a voice from behind, Naruto turned, but was too late to avoid being stabbed in the shoulder by a sword.

To his shock a fully intact Sasori stood before him, a long blade in his hand, now dripping with blood.

"You're probably wondering how I survived your decapitation," he remarked, noticing the effects the increased amount of poison was doing to the blond's body. "My entire body has been turned into a puppet, only my core is still human. So decapitating me will not kill me. Plus I can transfer my core into any of my puppets making me effectively immortal."

"I see… you are to be commended… for going further than was thought possible… the Akatsuki… such exceptional shinobi it has… geniuses… undoubtedly the strongest shinobi of their generation… however… I cannot allow you to defeat me." Gathering his strength he leapt into the air. "Mumyo jinpu ryu ougi… Suzaku!" his blade glowed red and soon burst with flames. The flames surged forward at incredible speed in the form of a large fiery phoenix, burning everything in its path. Sasori could only look on in horror, as all of his puppets were turned to ash, along with dozens of trees, reducing the surrounding area into a smoldering crater. His own body was set on fire as well…and all he could do was stare at the blond who landed on the ground and gazed at him with cold blue eyes.

"What was that?" asked the doomed puppet master.

Naruto merely sheathed his blade. "You felt it too didn't you? The breath of Suzaku."

Sasori's puppet turned to ash, leaving only a charred scroll behind.

Naruto collapsed. "Damn. Removing this poison is going to suck… Itachi will never let me hear the end of this." Summoning the last of his strength he vanished in a flash of yellow.

* * *

Itachi sped through the trees leading to the outskirts of Kusa. He had arrived at the village only to discover that he was too late. From the descriptions he received it looked like Hidan and Kakuzu had abducted the Jinchuriki mere hours ago. He was heading towards the Akatsuki base he knew was in the area, hoping to confront them before the sealing was complete. He began forming a plan to defeat the zombie brothers when a whistling sound had him dodging to the left…narrowly avoiding being skewered by what looked to be bone bullets. Suddenly three shinobi appeared before him. One was stocky, with bright orange hair. The other had blue hair and enlarged canines, while the other had weird markings on his forehead and long gray hair. They were all wearing the standard Akatsuki garb and from their stance the three were obviously quite strong. And Itachi immediately activated his sharingan.

"Itachi Uchiha… we have come for your head."

_A.N. Sorry for this chapters delay, I got caught up with work, and I had to watch quite a few episodes of Shippuden to do research for the fight scenes. The next chapter should be out soon. To those who read my Harry Potter fic: A new chapter should hopefully be out soon. I hope to have it finished later on today. Please submit any ideas you have for the sequel._

_I hope you guys liked the fight with Deidara and Sasori. Both of them are really cool characters that get gypped in the anime. I mean both of them basically commit suicide for no reason. Deidara because he's angry at Sasuke for not acknowledging his art and Sasori didn't dodge a fatal attack for pretty much no reason. It was just a cheap way to advance the plot in my opinion._

_since I find the revelation that Madara Implanted his eyes into Nagato to be stupid, I'm completely ignoring it in this fic..Nagato Developed the Rinnegan through Chance and Fate_

_Next chapter: Itachi faces three powerful assassins sent after him, and the Akatsuki's plans continue to move forward._

_Til next time Millennnion._


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